Hobo Interactive

Swapna David

Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder

With her extensive and diverse repertoire of mainstream and art house cinema, Swapna David has been a Producer and Executive Producer of feature films and documentaries both in India and the UK. She began her career in early 2000’s handling production for multiple North American documentary series in India. She then moved on to be a Producer on major Bollywood productions. Her portfolio includes Bollywood blockbusters like Ra.One and Housefull 1, Housefull 2, Heyy Babyy, as well as Canadian projects Cooking with Stella, Dr. Cabbie and Heaven on Earth. She established Hobo Pictures Ltd., in the UK, dedicated to producing global content. Notable films include One... Nenokkadine (Telugu) and David (Hindi). She co-founded Hobo Interactive, leveraging her international film producing background to develop immersive entertainment experiences focussed on global and diverse audiences.

Nirmal David

Chief Creative Officer & Co-founder

Nirmal David is an award-winning animation and VFX specialist with over two decades of global experience in visual storytelling and interactive entertainment. His work includes the Academy Award-winning film The Golden Compass, Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Alvin and the Chipmunks - Squeakuel series, along with working on STAR WARS - The Clone Wars at Lucas Film Animation in Singapore. Nirmal later co-found Hobo Interactive. Bot Rods, the first IP, is inspired by Nirmal’s passion for gaming, storytelling, and robots. His work focuses on building richly detailed worlds that blur the line between film and play. He brings cinematic craftsmanship to interactive worlds, driving Hobo Interactive’s mission to create immersive, story-driven IPs for global audiences.

Dileep Varma

Chief Operations Officer

Dileep is a multiple award winning visual-effects and animation veteran and former head of the pioneering and Academy Award-winning Rhythm & Hues Studios India. His work includes Academy Award-winning Life of Pi and The Golden Compass, Superman Returns, Incredible Hulk, The Fast & the Furious – Tokyo Drift, X-Men, Moneyball, Django Unchained, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Evan Almighty. He founded The Cirqus, a boutique VFX and CGI studio in Hyderabad, specializing in character-based content. He leads operations at Hobo Interactive, blending cinematic craft with interactive game development. With a strong background in cinematic visual effects and immersive digital media, he brings both creative vision and pipeline expertise to the interactive entertainment space.

Vimal Sathish

Head of Gaming

Vimal Sathish is a leading game design expert, bringing over a decade of experience in creating engaging, player-focused experiences. He holds a Masters degree from Carnegie Mellon University and has worked with WMS Gaming, Fox Sports Network. A former, Zynga veteran, he has contributed to globally acclaimed titles including CSR Racing 2, UFC Mobile, and FarmVille franchise, where he helped define gameplay systems, live-ops, and monetisation strategies. His work also includes Night At The Museum, Big Buck Hunter games, and The Walking Dead. Vimal has worked over 30 games, with multiple games built from scratch to rank among the top 25 in the app store; many scaled to generate over $100 million annually.

Mayank Mathur

Strategic Partnerships Director – Gaming & Japan Market

With over 20 years of cross-border experience in game business development, Mayank has worked with studios such as Square Enix, Tata Elxsi, and Gameshastra. As Square Enix Japan’s India Country Manager, he led India market development and publishing strategy for flagship franchises Tomb Raider and the Final Fantasy series. He led publishing partnership exploration for Gameshastra’s Cricket Challenge on Wii—engaging Nintendo HQ on a first-party publishing and India bundling deal—and, at Tata Elxsi, secured R&D leads from Nintendo HQ for next-gen console product-development research. He also founded Shinrai Game Consulting, a boutique firm bridging the gaming ecosystems of India and Japan specializing in market entry strategy, business development, IP licensing and monetization, co-development and outsourcing partnerships, across the global gaming landscape.

Sujatha Shenoy

Chief Strategy Officer

Chicago based, brand and marketing strategy specialist Sujatha Shenoy crafted the brand voice for the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, helping amplify the impact and influence of the center with multiple audiences. She is a former startup founder and reporter with work published in The New York Times, The Independent, Quartz, Economic Times and Business Standard.

Charles IP

Charles is the Founder and Chairman of JDH toys and Nippon toys, two of the world’s leading toy design, manufacturing and management companies. He established himself as a legend by spearheading the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise and TV shows.

Michael March

Michael is a seasoned Media Executive & Transactions Lawyer with more than 30 years experience in Asia, including as the Senior VP of Sony Pictures and National Geographic, and General Counsel for the Asian businesses of NYNEX (now Verizon) and NBC Universal.

THE TEAM