MAM
CPM India & Candid Marketing join hands
Mumbai: CPM India, a leading name in the world of sales and marketing, and Candid Marketing, a dynamic force in Experiential Marketing, are excited to announce their strategic partnership aimed at establishing a powerful, integrated sales & marketing Activation solution for brands. Through this strategic collaboration, CPM India will harness Candid’s brand strength and expertise to offer a comprehensive suite of services to clients across India. These services will extend CPM India’s existing portfolio and catapult the Candid brand into the forefront of PAN India execution, leveraging an extensive network spanning over 1000 cities and towns nationwide.
Over the years, both CPM India and Candid Marketing have forged distinctive paths, each mastering specific facets of the marketing landscape. CPM India has excelled in trade marketing, sales, and brand activation, while Candid Marketing has become synonymous with experiential marketing, events, and digital activation. The amalgamation of these two industry leaders will pave the way for an unparalleled range of services, covering sales support, customer experience, merchandising, auditing, data, analytics & insight, brand activation, experiential marketing, events, online & digital activation and mobile marketing.
Speaking about the partnership, CPM India CEO & MD Mandeep Singh said, “At CPM, we possess a rich legacy of partnering with major clients across diverse industries, particularly in the retail and channel sales sectors. Our pride stems from the enduring relationships we’ve nurtured with our clients, founded on unwavering trust in our trade marketing and sales initiatives. The desire to delve into brand activations and consumer engagement has always been a shared aspiration.”
“The collaboration with Candid Marketing heralds a new era, unlocking fresh possibilities for both us and our clients. Together, we’ll harness our scale and profound insights into channel and consumer behaviour within the retail domain through experiential marketing. We eagerly anticipate a transformative journey in the consumer activation landscape, driven by our shared commitment to scale and innovation,” he further added.
Commenting on the announcement, Candid Marketing Founder/MD Atul S Nath said, “Over the years, the Candid team has developed a deep understanding of go-to-market strategies & building strong brands – especially through strong creative and omni-channel experiential marketing. CPM’s extensive network and intensive national execution capability will allow us to deliver even better brand campaigns for our clients. I am super-excited with this handshake and look forward to doing some great brand work together in the future!”
Digital
Anthropic eyes $900bn valuation in new funding round ahead of IPO: Reports
Claude maker may surpass OpenAI as investor interest heats up sharply
SAN FRANCISCO: Anthropic is exploring a fresh funding round that could value the company at more than $900 billion, potentially making it the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, according to Bloomberg reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the Claude maker is in early-stage discussions with investors and is entertaining offers at more than double its current valuation. No deal has been finalised yet.
The interest marks a sharp jump from February this year, when Anthropic raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion. Since then, investor appetite appears to have intensified, with multiple pre-emptive offers on the table.
According to TechCrunch, the company has received proposals to raise around $50 billion at valuations ranging between $850 billion and $900 billion. A decision is expected to be taken at a board meeting in May.
If the deal goes through at the upper end of that range, Anthropic would overtake OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March, to become the most valuable AI startup globally.
The potential fundraise also comes against the backdrop of a possible initial public offering, which could be launched as early as October, the Bloomberg report noted.
The company counts tech heavyweights such as Amazon and Google, part of Alphabet, among its key backers. Both firms have continued to deepen their ties with Anthropic through multi-billion-dollar, performance-linked investments.
Interestingly, earlier reports had suggested that Anthropic was cautious about raising funds at valuations of $800 billion or more. The latest developments, however, indicate that market enthusiasm for advanced AI models and infrastructure may be shifting those thresholds quickly.
As the race for AI dominance accelerates, Anthropic’s next move could set a new benchmark for startup valuations, and signal just how high investors are willing to bet on the future of artificial intelligence.
