Zodius Capital-backed Antuit Technologies has adopted a hybrid model (of being resource and product driven) to offer end-to-end analytics solutions in the supply chain and marketing domains. With a dual focus on the U.S. and Asia Pacific, it has designed several strategies with aspirations to become a market leader in the global analytics space

MADHUMITA PRABHAKAR

In mid-2013, when Arijit Sengupta was researching the analytics space, he came up with an interesting analogy to determine why pursuing a venture in this space will be rewarding in the long term. “Similar to the BPO industry, where expertise and delivery evolved over the years to create a line-up of global market leaders of scale and capability, we felt analytics will go through the same journey,” he opines. Since the (analytics) space was just beginning to grow, he believed that through an organic strategy, a top-gear team and unique elements in the business model, one could achieve a great deal of success. With this inference, he founded Antuit Technologies, an analytics-as-a-service business. Sengupta is no stranger to the big data analytics space. He was a member of the leadership team at WNS, a global BPO firm, held executive positions in Accenture and IBM, and was an angel investor and operator of several early stage and mid-market companies in the analytics, education and healthcare space.

In essence, we want to be an end-to-end analytics-as-a-service provider, who helps clients manage their journey from data visualisation and comparison to modelling for business insights and link to outcomes.

Taking an off-beat path, Sengupta initially founded the company with a primary focus on the Asia Pacific market, then entered the U.S. with the acquisition of Marketwell, a New York-based analytics firm. As a part of the acquisition, Navin Sharma (president of Marketwell) and his business partner, Yogi Shankar, came on board Antuit. “We saw Asia as a high potential market where we can earn a substantial first mover advantage. Whereas, in the U.S., we felt there were many established players and the market was already competitive but these companies would not have the resources and capabilities to tap into the Asia Pacific market,” he indicates. With its headquarters in Singapore and a back office in Bengaluru, Antuit focussed on offering supply chain analytics to the Asia Pacific market. Then, with the acquisition of Marketwell, it extended its offering to the marketing and sales and data management division. Soon, it plans to enter Europe.

Building a hybrid model

Antuit helps clients manage the entire cycle, from data sourcing and data management to delivering relevant insights on the supply chain and marketing and sales front. To further elaborate, it collates traditional, structured data and unstructured data, cleans and aggregates them and compares them to help clients build dashboards and workable solutions. The solutions may vary from sales forecast and pricing decisions, to managing inventory across stores and determining marketing strategies such as different media platforms a brand can adopt over a period of time. “In essence, we want to be an end-to-end solutions provider that helps clients manage their journey from data visualisation and comparison to modelling for business insights and link to outcomes,” adds Sengupta.

Antuit positions itself as a solutions company that follows a hybrid business model (of being product and resource driven). The company currently has a presence in Bengaluru, Singapore, New York, Seattle and Auckland and its clients mostly comprise Fortune 500 companies with whom Antuit has built long-term relationships. “We don’t compete with one particular player in any market. We compete with a whole spectrum of companies from top notch consulting and IT firms to local providers who are not known outside of those markets,” he states.

Long-term vs short-term gains

The company adopts a dual strategy to crack global sales and build its revenues. One, it focuses on building long-term relationships with its clients. “This is what will separate leaders from a host of profitable boutique firms. They may have good margins but will face a challenge in sustaining this growth in the long run,” he says. Secondly, it architects delivery models which are unique and in line with client requirements. “During our first phase of growth, we focussed on establishing the business model and acquiring the initial set of clients to validate our approach in the market. Then, we tested the willingness of the client to try what we put on the table and also tested our ability to compete with some of the existing players,” explains Sengupta. When its approach was validated, it focussed on its next goal; fund raising.

In August 2013, Antuit raised its first round of funding to the tune of U.S. $3 million from Zodius Capital. As a part of the deal, Neeraj Bhargava, its founder, joined Antuit as the Chairman and a part of the funding was used to acquire New York-based Marketwell in a part cash, part stock deal. By January 2015, it raised its second round of U.S. $56 million from Goldman Sachs. “They understood what we were trying to deliver and believed in our vision and framework,” shares Sengupta. He indicates that now, the focus will be on building a pipeline of organic growth opportunities which will accelerate its growth in the coming months.

As it enters its second phase of growth Antuit has identified three key elements which will aid in establishing it as a leader in the analytics space. “One is our customer focussed strategy. Two, we feel we have one of the best teams in the market (we have spent considerable time assembling experienced senior talent early on), and three, we feel we also have good reference points for how we do this end-to-end analytics as a service model which I believe will allow us to scale more,” states Sengupta. From a capability standpoint, he believes that Antuit is ahead of the curve. The capital invested now will not only go into building marketing capabilities, but also into research and development. “We require these investments to help us build solutions to solve the next generation’s set of problems, to give us an anchor to be a lasting player in this space,” concludes Sengupta.

Snapshot

ANTUIT TECHNOLOGIES

Founder: Arijit Sengupta

Year: 2013

Concept: An analytics-as-a-service company offering solutions in the supply chain and operations, and marketing and sales domain

Region: Singapore

Investors: Zodius Capital, Goldman Sachs

Presence: Bengaluru, Singapore, New York, Seattle, Auckland