YAAP Founder Atul Hegde on IPO, AI, and Indian Scale Ambitions

• YAAP Digital's founder Atul Hegde views the upcoming IPO as a strategic move for ambitious growth, not a culmination.
• The agency, founded in 2016, largely bootstrapped its first decade and sees capital markets as offering long-term leverage for scale.
• Hegde aims to build a strong Indian digital communications network to compete with foreign-dominated multinational agencies.
• The proposed acquisition of Gozoop Online Pvt Ltd is central to YAAP's inorganic growth strategy, focusing on strong founders, differentiated products, and strategic complementarity.
• YAAP is reinventing influencer marketing to be more tech-driven and performance-oriented, emphasizing engagement over mere reach, and preparing for evolving AI-driven advertising formats.