From a video magazine to a venture-building ecosystem.

It started with curiosity. Nepal had stories, people, ideas, businesses, creators, and culture that deserved to be presented in a new way. Print had reach. Video had emotion. Digital had possibility. We brought them together before that combination became common.

At a time when video-first storytelling was still new, we began as a one-of-a-kind video magazine. Every week, readers could go beyond the printed page and watch stories come alive on screen. It was early. It was different. And it connected. Readers loved it, viewers engaged with it, advertisers believed in it.

For founder Sambhav Sirohiya, that energy was personal. Having started working straight out of high school, he was drawn early to technology, marketing, media, and problem-solving. The speed of change kept him awake; the possibilities felt endless. Instead of following a conventional path, he stayed close to the world that excited him most. The company became the sandbox for that restlessness — a place to test, to build, to fail, and to begin again.

In October 2013 the magazine took print form as an eight-page lifestyle supplement to The Kathmandu Post. Reach grew. So did the appetite for something beyond the page.

Momentum soon moved past media altogether. We began creating events and experiences that brought people together around culture, business, entertainment, and ideas. These were not extensions of a brand. They were proof that we could move from storytelling into real-world experience. The company had started by documenting energy. Now it was creating it.

As we grew, we began attracting like-minded people — entrepreneurs, technologists, creators, marketers, operators, and problem-solvers. The company became more than a workplace. It became a living ecosystem of people and ideas.

From media we expanded into events. From events into entrepreneurship. From entrepreneurship into incubation, acceleration, innovation, and venture building. At a time when accelerators and incubators were still uncommon in Nepal, we began creating platforms for entrepreneurs who wanted to build their own path.

Through initiatives like NEXT Venture Corp and NEXT Launchpad, we worked with founders to refine business models, access mentorship, build networks, gain exposure, and prepare for growth. We believed entrepreneurs did not only need capital. They needed community, confidence, guidance, structure, and a place where their ambition felt understood.

The group was formally launched in Kathmandu with four arms: VMAG carried the media and storytelling DNA, NEXT Venture Corp supported entrepreneurs and venture development, WORXpro Innovation explored emerging technologies, and M&S Events extended the brand into live experiences and community-building.

The same year brought one of our defining chapters: the tower. It was more than an office. It became a hub for founders, teams, operators, technologists, creators, and partners. Inside the building, companies worked side by side. Ideas were debated. Products were tested. Conversations turned into prototypes. Prototypes turned into companies.

For many who passed through it, the tower represented a special moment in Nepal's entrepreneurial journey. It was a place where ambition felt shared. It was a place where builders found other builders.

Over time the company took shape through multiple arms, ventures, and initiatives. Around those platforms, a wider network of companies and ideas began to grow — Food Mario, Eton Technologies, Metro Tarkari, Falfull, Excom and others became part of the larger journey.

Some were built internally. Some were incubated. Some were supported. Some grew alongside us as part of a broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. Many were loved by customers. Some won awards. Some gained strong recognition. Some were ahead of their time. Not all of them survived. But each of them mattered.

The early-stage world is full of excitement, but it is also unforgiving. We backed ideas, founders, technologies, and opportunities with conviction. Some worked. Many did not. More than a dozen companies connected to the broader ecosystem no longer exist today.

Some were too early for the market. Some faced timing challenges. Some struggled with execution. Some could not scale fast enough. Some were deeply impacted by COVID and the difficult realities that followed.

Those years changed us. They brought discipline. They sharpened the investment philosophy. They taught the importance of timing, focus, governance, resilience, and capital efficiency. We do not look at those companies only as failures. They were experiments. They were lessons. They were proof that building is never linear.

Today we are a focused holding company and venture-building platform. It is no longer about early-stage acceleration or launching many experiments at once. We bring deeper experience, stronger networks, greater operating maturity, and sharper strategic focus to the opportunities we choose to pursue.

The areas of interest have grown larger. We continue to explore problems across financial services, education, media technology, artificial intelligence, and other technology-enabled sectors where long-term impact is possible.

The scale has changed. The discipline has changed. The ambition has grown. But the excitement remains the same — still driven by curiosity, still drawn to problems, still energized by people who build.