Canadian loyalty management firm Aimia investing in Fractal Analytics

Canadian firm Aimia Inc., a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company that provides loyalty management programmes to enterprises, is picking a minority stake in India- and US-based pure-play analytics provider Fractal Analytics for an undisclosed amount, as per a company statement.

Additionally, the firm has announced partnership with Fractal which will help the loyalty management company extend its customer insights to better understand consumer behaviour and improve marketing return-on-investment. It will also expand Aimia's analytics operations, giving it access to Fractal's existing predictive analytics solutions such as customer genomics and embed them into Aimia's loyalty solutions.

"We will use the capital for growth in various markets. We are also looking at acquiring some companies in the analytics space. So, a portion of the capital will also go towards that," Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder and CEO of Fractal Analytics, told Techcircle.in.

"This strategic partnership gives Aimia access to specialised and scarce top talent as our global analytics business continues to grow," said Eric Monteiro, chief strategy and analytics officer at Aimia, who will join Fractal's board of directors as part of the equity investment.

Fractal Analytics was founded in 2000 by a five-member team—Srikanth Velamakanni (CEO), Pranay Agrawal, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan and Ramakrishna Reddy. Headquartered in the US, the company has offices in London, Mumbai, New Delhi, Singapore and Dubai, and has over 600 employees.

It partners with consumer companies, retailers and financial institutions to understand, predict and influence consumer behaviour and improve marketing, pricing, supply chain, risk and claims management.

Fractal Analytics' flagship 'Customer Genomics' solution helps marketers learn complex customer behaviour at an individual level. Its solution learns from every transaction and customer interaction (including from social media), helping marketers build a complete view of individual customers. In addition, the company builds analytics solutions and forecasts business performance. Fractal has 13 offices across the globe.

In June last year, the company had raised $25 million (Rs 150 crore) in funding from private equity investor TA Associates.

In May this year, Fractal Analytics appointed Amit Johari as its chief people officer (CPO).

Aimia is a provider of loyalty management solutions that currently employs more than 4,000 people in over 20 countries. It offers its clients, partners and members various solutions to launch and manage coalition loyalty programmes.

Aimia owns and operates loyalty programmes in various countries that include Aeroplan (Canada), Nectar (the UK) and Nectar Italia (Italy). In addition, Aimia owns stakes in Air Miles Middle East; Mexico's leading coalition loyalty programme Club Premier; Brazil's Prismah Fidelidade, and China Rewards that enables members to earn and redeem a common currency; and i2c, a joint venture with Sainsbury's offering insight and data analytics services in the UK to retailers and suppliers.

Aimia also holds a minority position in Cardlytics, a US-based private company operating in card-linked marketing for electronic banking.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)