Builder of Ownership First Media Lakshay Jain is a first-generation entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Mascan, building a globally distributed, ownership-led media platform focused on long-term enterprise value.
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At 22, Lakshay Jain is building what many founders only begin to imagine a decade later: a globally distributed, ownership-led media and brand platform designed for long-term enterprise value, not short-term attention. A first-generation entrepreneur with 100% equity ownership, Jain began his journey in 2020—immediately after completing his Class 10 exams. There was no safety net, no inherited business, and no external capital. What he did have was a sharp instinct for how value is created in the digital economy—and how often it is left on the table.
As the company scaled, Jain moved operations to the United States, simultaneously pursuing higher education while running the business across markets. By 2025, the venture had reached a point where remote oversight was no longer enough. He made the call to step away from university and take on full-time, on-ground leadership. "Execution-first" is how he describes his approach—learning by building, iterating fast, and operating globally from a young age. The pivotal insight that shaped the business came early. At 16, after working across development, design, and early-stage marketing projects, Jain recognised a structural flaw in traditional agency models. Brands spent heavily on growth, but agencies retained no lasting asset. "True long-term value," he realised, "lies in ownership—not services."
He started the company during the early months of COVID as a marketing-led venture and quickly scaled across the US and Europe. Exposure to multiple geographies accelerated clarity. The real opportunity wasn't in working for brands, but in building, acquiring, and owning digital-first brands and media IPs. That insight led to a decisive shift—from services to a media equity and brand-ownership model.
Today, Jain's company owns and operates a portfolio of over 25 national and international digital-first brands. These span media and content-led platforms, reaching audiences in more than 100 countries, with a combined following exceeding 150 million. Rather than chasing external clients, the business focuses entirely on owned brands—each with its own audience, monetisation strategy, and market positioning.
This asset-first philosophy is the company's core differentiation. Growth is driven by in-house media, AI-enabled content intelligence, audience data, and repeatable operational playbooks deployed across markets. The goal is not transactional revenue, but defensible enterprise value. In Jain's words, the platform is built to "systematically convert attention into owned intellectual property."
The year 2025 marked a major inflection point. The company transitioned from building individual assets to operating at portfolio scale. It completed its highest volume of brand and media acquisitions, entered new content categories, and expanded geographic reach. Collectively, its platforms crossed 10 billion views across digital and social channels—validating the AI-led, data-driven approach to scaling attention.
Rapid growth brought its own challenges. Integrating acquisitions without dilution, maintaining content quality, and standardising operations across diverse properties required a reset. Jain responded by strengthening internal systems, talent structures, and the technology stack—laying the groundwork for sustainable, multi-brand growth.
Financial discipline has been central from the start. The company is profitable, has reached break-even without external capital, and operates with a margin-expansion mindset rather than burn-led growth. Monetisation is diversified across owned brands, with shared infrastructure enabling efficiency at scale. Selective acquisitions continue, but only where long-term returns justify deployment.
Looking ahead, the next phase of growth will be driven by portfolio expansion, technology leverage, and global scale. Jain's ambition is to build a platform-level AI layer that acts as shared intelligence across all owned brands—enhancing content performance, audience understanding, and monetisation efficiency. Acquisitions will remain strategic, focused on new media categories and high-growth regions.
Facts:
Number of Employees: 20
Year of Company Inception: Founded in 2023 (US)
Indian Entity Incorporated: 2025
