Manthan Software acquires personalisation software maker RichRelevance

Bengaluru-headquartered cloud analytics company Manthan Software has acquired  San Francisco-based RichRelevance for an undisclosed amount. 

Atul Jalan, chief executive officer of Manthan, said it was primarily a stock deal. 

RichRelevance provides cloud-based personalisation solutions and is expected to help accelerate Manthan Software’s journey to a NASDAQ listing. 

“With this consolidation, Manthan becomes an ecosystem when it comes to algorithmic customer analytics. This will also bring us closer to a public offering in 18-24 months,” Jalan told TechCircle. 

Since its launch in 2006, RichRelevance has raised close to $150 million across 10 rounds from multiple financial backers including Centerview Capital, Crosslink Capital and Greylock Partners. The company provides cloud-based personalisation and was valued at close to $230 million in 2016 according to a CBInsights report.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which was an investor in Manthan prior to its India exit, is also an investor in RichRelevance.

According to Jalan, none of the existing investors exited during the current funding round.

With the acquisition, the combined entity will for now be called Manthan Software, said Jalan, adding that the details on combining the operations were still in the works.

“This partnership reflects the market need for consumer retailers of all types to become algorithmic enterprises” said Bill Pearce, chairman of RichRelevancein a statement shared by the company. 

Ranked among the top vendors for personalisation engine by Gartner, RichRelevance claims to have a client base of close to 200 and works with the likes of Burberry, OfficeDepot and others. The deal will bring the combined entity’s client base close to 360. 

“We will continue to serve business to consumer businesses in retail, hospitality and restaurant sectors. With the acquisition, there is an opportunity for cross-selling and upselling products to the combined client base. Also, the acquisition gives us an end to end analytics platform. We already have top capabilities on customer marketing analytics and with the acquisition, we add personalisation and recommendation analytics,” said Jalan.

Founded in 2003, Manthan Software pivoted to a cloud-based analytics software-as-a-service platform in 2014-15. It is backed by Norwest Venture Partners which recently sold its stake in Manthan along with five other companies to HarbourVest backed Avataar Venture Partners.

Other investors in Manthan include sovereign fund of Singapore-based Temasek, which invested $60 million in the company in 2015, Fidelity Growth Partners among others. It has also taken debt from Innoven Capital. 

According to filings made with the Registrar of Companies, Manthan’s revenue from sale of services was at Rs 239.05 crore for the financial year ended March 2019, as compared to Rs 184.03 crore in the previous year. The company also has subsidiaries in Singapore, UAE and the US.