Posted by Mumbai: Netcore Cloud has invested close to $100 million to acquire a majority stake in US-based, search-personalization company Unbxd Inc. The SaaS company said it will also be infusing additional funding into Unbxd to speed up its growth in developed markets.
The $100 million investment not only makes Netcore Cloud, the majority stakeholder in Unbxd Inc, but more significantly it provides a strong foothold in the US and developed markets.
Pavan Sondur and Prashant Kumar found Unbxd Inc in 2012. It has a 120-member team, which has built an AI-powered Product Discovery suite. Unbxd’s intelligent search solution has significantly improved retention and conversions for leading e-commerce retailers/ B2C brands in the USA, UK, and Australia.
With Unbxd’s expertise in product discovery, Netcore Cloud wants to lead the Digital Experience Platform (DXP) globally. Unbxd’s AI-powered search expertise will help Netcore Cloud to deliver a real-time recommendation to its online e-commerce/app-first brand and retailer.
“Unbxd’s AI/ML tech stack will empower our customers to track their shopper’s interactions with Search and implement site-wide personalization, merchandising, along with shopper-focused recommendations,” said Kalpit Jain, Group CEO, Netcore Cloud.
“This will enable brands to optimize their entire customer journey, providing the best-in-class customer experience,” added Jain.
“Netcore Cloud platform is growing rapidly at 40% YoY (with international markets growing 100% YoY). We are positioned as the digital proxy in emerging markets. Added to that, this investment will enable us to get a strong foothold in the US and other developed markets as well,” said Nishant Jain, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of M&A, Netcore Cloud.
“Furthermore, the combination of Unbxd and Netcore Cloud’s capabilities will bolster our full-stack product offerings,” added Jain.
Unbxd is Netcore Cloud’s fourth investment in the past three years. The previous three investments include Quinto.ai (conversational commerce), Boxx.ai (product recommendation), and Hansel.io (product experience). Interestingly, Netcore Cloud has managed and funded all four investments through its internal accruals.
“The SaaS market is very fragmented, and the era of SaaS consolidation is upon us. We intend to fast-track our growth exponentially with the Buy-Partner strategy. This is our fourth acquisition in quick succession, and we already have our eyes set on the next one,” commented Jain.
“With our unique combination of personalization solutions and Netcore’s robust full-stack marketing automation tech platform, it’s a perfect partnership that can capture cross-selling opportunities and scale the business globally,” said Pavan Sondur and Prashant, Co-founders – Unbxd.
Netcore Cloud has confirmed that there will be no change in the company’s management, as the founders and key management will continue to build and grow the company post this deal. Unbxd will operate as an independent entity.