Noida, 22 October 2026: Anime Devta, the merchandise brand founded by Mr. Dev Taneja and known for its Sanatan-inspired characters, has been acquired by Mr. Anil Chhikara, Founder of Bolt91, for an undisclosed amount. The deal closed on 2 October 2026. Mr. Chhikara plans to take the brand to the United States, with Kashi (Varanasi) as its base. Mr. Taneja, who started the business in college with about ₹600, now leads Unjob, his tech platform for booking creative services on demand.

“While I was still in college, a gaming company offered ₹7 crore for Anime Devta. It looked big at the time, but we said no. We knew the brand would become much bigger, and we did not want a buyer who would take over the brand or rebuild the entire concept. We had confidence it could become a huge brand on its own. Now Mr. Chhikara wants to build on exactly what Anime Devta stands for, and take it to the world from Kashi. The concept of the brand and the idea behind it came from Kashi. Now it is going back to Kashi, where it began, which makes it a full circle,” said Mr. Dev Taneja, Founder, Unjob.

That decision goes back to February 2021, when Mr. Taneja’s attempt at the NDA and SSB selection in Varanasi did not succeed. He describes that period in Kashi as the turning point that pushed him to build something of his own. In his third semester of B.Tech, he began selling stickers in cafes and his college mess.

Anime Devta followed in 2022, named after its founder: “Devta” is short for Dev Taneja. Mr. Taneja ran operations, customer support and growth alongside his degree.

In 2023, Mr. Taneja saw a bigger opportunity. He believed that if Japan could build a global phenomenon around anime, India could create globally recognised characters inspired by Sanatan history and culture. Anime Devta moved beyond Japanese anime merchandise to original Sanatan-inspired figures and historical characters, and the new range won strong appreciation from customers.

The college project became a mid-premium brand built on limited drops. At one point, demand was so high that customers typically waited 60 to 80 days for their orders. Anime Devta went on to serve more than 30,000 customers, launch more than 1,000 products and ship to more than 12 countries, with a team of full-time staff, interns and freelancers.

Headstart named Anime Devta among its Top 70 Emerging Indian Startups in 2023, and WTFund, led by Mr. Nikhil Kamath, recognised Mr. Taneja among its Top 3% Under 25 in 2024.

In his fourth year with Anime Devta, Mr. Taneja began moving into technology, a transition that took about a year. The result is Unjob (unjob.ai), a platform where businesses book editors, designers and AI experts on demand. Unjob raised a pre-seed round in 2025, and Mr. Taneja aims to build it to the scale of Blinkit within the next three years.

“Anime Devta has proved there is real demand for characters drawn from India’s own history and culture. Dev built that demand while he was still in college. From Kashi, we will take these characters to the United States,” said Mr. Anil Chhikara, Founder, Bolt91.

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Ganesh Kumar Prabhakar, Number 1 Solutions

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