Telecom major Bharti Airtel has picked up an 8% stake in Bengaluru-based marketing automation firm Lemnisk for an undisclosed sum, according to regulatory filings by the former on BSE.
The strategic investment in the Immensitas-operated Lemnisk will be a part of the Bharti Airtel's startup accelerator program. The deal is subject to applicable statutory approvals.
Founded by Subra Krishnan, Rinku Ghosh and Praveen DS, Lemnisk offers real-time marketing automation and a secure customer data platform (CDP). The CDP platform is capable of coordinating one-to-one personalization, thereby helping enterprises in increasing conversions, retention and growth, Airtel said in a release.
Airtel will integrate the Bengaluru-based startup’s services across several of its platforms, including adtech platform Airtel Ads, digital entertainment apps Wynk Music and Airtel Xstream and online marketplace Airtel Thanks App.
Airtel also plans to offer Lemnisk’s service to its enterprise customers through Airtel IQ, a network-integrated cloud platform as a service (CPaaS). The platform will offer enterprises an opportunity to create a nimble, scalable, and omni-channel engagement for their customers, Airtel said.
Shares of Bharti Airtel ended Tuesday's session with cuts of nearly 1.5% at Rs 827.55 apiece on BSE, shortly ahead of the announcement.
“We see great potential in this alliance and together with Lemnisk we aim to create world’s largest CDP platform. Lemnisk’s real-time marketing automation engine is a natural fit for us, where over 350 million customers interact with brands daily through multiple touch points,” said Adarsh Nair, chief executive of Airtel Digital.
Apart from Bengaluru, Lemnisk has offices in Singapore, Dubai and Boston.
“Airtel’s ambition aligns with our vision to offer a single frictionless platform to super-large enterprises that organizes and activates high-volume and high-velocity data,” said Lemnisk’s co-founder and chief executive Subra Krishnan.
Airtel Digital-led Airtel Startup Accelerator Program invests in early-stage startups working on technologies that add strategic value to the telecom company’s business offerings.
The programme provides startups with the opportunity to deploy their technologies and applications at a massive scale, which includes Airtel’s more than 350 million retail customers and over 1 million businesses.
In addition to financial support, the programme provides mentorship to startups from Airtel’s leadership team as well as access to Airtel’s global strategic partners.
