MAM
CleverTap raises $105 mn in series D funding round led by CDPQ
Mumbai: Global B2B SaaS platform, CleverTap has signed definitive agreements to raise $105 million in a series D funding round led by CDPQ, a global investment group that has committed $75 million, with participation from IIFL AMC’s tech fund, along with existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia India.
The funds will be used to support CleverTap’s global expansion and enhance the development of its world-class solutions and technology.
CleverTap’s customer engagement and retention SaaS platform leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer a comprehensive user engagement suite that enables brands to build valuable, long-term relationships with their customers.
CleverTap’s subscription-based solution has been adopted by a loyal customer base of twelve hampered brands in a hundred countries, representing ten thousand apps across industries including fintech, ecommerce, subscription, on demand, and streaming media.
Commenting on the collection, CleverTap co-founder and executive chairman Sunil Thomas said, “Our vision has been to reshape the way businesses engage with their consumers and bring technology to MarTech. The addition of long-term investors CDPQ and IIFL AMC Tech fund to CleverTap’s existing backers, Sequoia India, Accel, Tiger Global, and Recruit Holdings, is a great endorsement of the successful business we have built, the innovation we bring to the market, and the growth potential CleverTap holds.”
“The fresh funds will help fuel our plans to further strengthen our presence in key geographies and expand our teams. The last few months have been quite exciting for us with the Leanplum acquisition and the unveiling of TesseractDB. And now, with the new institutional investors coming on board, we have all that we need to grow at a faster rate while consolidating our position as the global leader in the retention space,” he added.
Adding to it, CDPQ executive vice president and head of private equity Martin Laguerre commented, “CleverTap has established itself as a partner of choice for its clients by helping them generate significant incremental revenue. Its subscription-based platform offers a single and reliable source of information that allows brands to maximise the lifetime value of their existing customers by engaging them in a highly personalised way.”
He added, “As consumer brands are increasingly focused on customer retention and prioritise tools offering a tangible return on investment, we believe CleverTap is well positioned to maintain its global growth trajectory and help more businesses enhance their customer experience.”
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
