UST Global invests in London-based sales and marketing platform Ksubaka

Aliso Viejo, California-based technology company UST Global has made a strategic investment in gamified sales, data collection and marketing tools provider Ksubaka. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal will help investor UST Global improve its system integrations and offerings to major retail chains, a statement said.

“UST Global is constantly looking for innovative ways to help our clients find their crucial edge in the rapidly shifting and highly competitive retail market. Ksubaka’s experience in enhancing customer experience and their unique business strategy has helped them carve a niche in the retail industry. Our clients will now have access to a framework that allows retailers to grow their solution, integrate and scale,” Sunil Kanchi, CIO of UST Global, said.

London headquartered Ksubaka’s solution portfolio includes Smiles, a customer research app; Cloudshelf, an offline-to-online aisle for retail stores; and gamified experience, a range of custom games to improve sales. Ksubaka has earlier aided an unnamed American multinational food and beverage company to launch its products in China by providing 8,000 interactive displays across 150 cities.

Founded in 2013 by Julian and Giles Corbett, Ksubaka counts several fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies such as Tesco, Evergrande Group, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Dove, Head & Shoulders, Johnson & Johnson, Heineken, GSK, Kellogg’s, Lifebuoy, L'Oreal, Nestle, Oreos and Sunsilk among its clients.

The platform claims to record nearly 2 billion data points each month, delivering real time customer insights to clients.

James Andrade, vice president of food and beverage major Mondelez; Pierre Lever, an angel investor and CEO of the Asia region at commodities firm Argus Media; and Bruno Wauters, co-founder of hospitality chain PT Coconut Homes are the non-executive board members of Ksubaka.  

“Our (Ksubaka)  solutions deliver trackable results via touchscreens, without any of the pain points they are accustomed to. We are very excited to partner with UST Global and deliver these innovative in-store experiences,” Giles Corbett, co-founder and CEO of Ksubaka, said.

In November 2019, UST Global made its second investment in a startup when it funded Thiruvananthapuram-based artificial intelligence and cognitive technology firm Cogniphi Technologies. In the same year, it acquired three companies, the latest being healthcare consulting firm Contineo Health.  

The firm also inked a deal to provide digital transformation services to Muthoot Pappachan Group, also known as Muthoot Blue, and opened its first Infinity Lab in Southeast Asia and its third delivery centre in Penang, Malaysia.