Brands
Mindshare India creates India’s largest audio-conferencing bridge solution ‘mSamvaad’
MUMBAI: Mindshare, India’s largest full-service media agency and part of GroupM, collaborated with Cosmic Information and Technology Ltd to launch a new voice-driven platform called ‘Audio Conferencing Bridge’ called ‘mSamvaad’. The solution helps connect leading brands of the country to the audience in media-dark areas on the largest voice conferencing infrastructure with a capacity of 25,000 concurrent calls.
A large segment of Indian audiences cannot be reached through the traditional or the new-age digital mediums. This problem of low penetration coupled with low levels of literacy makes it difficult for brands to surpass the barriers of communication in remote areas. However, the rural centres of the country have been recorded as driving the telecom growth in the nation. In the Indian ecosystem, about 450 million active SIM cards are resting on feature phones, the highest across the world. This renders telecom as the medium with the largest penetration in the markets that have low access to data.
Mindshare devised a solution that uses the power of telecom as the key channel to engage, educate and create awareness through SMS, chat rooms and voice calls for one-on-ones as well as conference connections. It also enables a two-way communication on a selected basis. The key differentiator of the platform is that it operates independent of the internet and can be used with any voice-supported device, even landline and feature phones.
In its first venture, Mindshare rolled out a high-scaled engagement program for Horlicks to reach out to mothers in the media dark areas of Bihar for its new variant that improves nutrient absorption among children. The aim of the program was to generate awareness on the brand's scientific credentials through an audio message recorded in the voice of legendary Bhojpuri star, Ravi Kishan.
Mindshare’s approach to deliver the brand message via a 2-way dialogue bore great results. The Horlicks nutrient absorption communication reached 4 million unique users. The 10-minutes conference bridge saw a breakthrough of 29 percent completed listenership. Through the campaign, Mindshare answered the call for nutrition with resounding effect, 81 percent recalled the new variant for its emphasis on nutrient absorption in children. Horlicks observed an impressive increase of 33 percent TOM and 12 percent of L3M usage.
With carrier grade infra, the alliance is one of the largest in-house telecom infrastructures in India on a single location from all leading telecom operators, managed in a high-tech data centre. It has advanced servers, big-data platform, cloud backups, secured firewalls, high speed primary and backup Internet leased lines, and 24×7 power backups under the supervision of team comprising network engineers, data scientists, and engineering minds. The bridge enables massive outreach in minimum time in the most cost-effective way.
Sharing his thoughts on the innovation, Mindshare India national head – mobile Niraj Ruparel said, “Since the past decade, our efforts have enabled number of top brands to engage their end-consumers with the most advanced and innovative voice-based solutions. Our solutions are aimed at penetrating the fragmented consumer segments of India and surpassing the barriers of communication due to low literacy rates and lack of access to data and connectivity. "mSamvaad" is one of our most successful voice product which we plan to take to the next level in the near future. We look forward to extending this platform to all prospects that are looking at customer engagement in rural India.”
“Cosmic Information & Technology Limited is committed & will continue to leverage its large & robust Voice Infrastructure and in-house innovation lab, to co-create quality solutions, which addresses brand challenges and help them to have a simple, yet targetted delivery of message as well as meaningful conversations with their brand audience, resulting into deeper level of engagements.”, said Cosmic Information and Technology Limited CEO Nilesh Bhagat.
Speaking about the success of the campaign, area marketing lead, nutrition, GSK Vikram Bahl, said, “This is a laudable initiative by Mindshare India along with Cosmic Infotech and we are glad to have been a part of it. We have always undertaken efforts to create awareness around holistic nutrition, especially in rural areas and this was a great opportunity for us to achieve our objective. We look forward to many such innovations in technology that can help us deliver intended message to rural markets.”
Brands
UpGrad to acquire Unacademy in share-swap deal, founders confirm
Proposed share-swap could unite two edtech rivals as sector eyes consolidation
MUMBAI: The Indian edtech sector may be inching toward another wave of consolidation, with online learning platform upGrad signing a term sheet to acquire rival Unacademy in an all stock transaction.
If completed, the deal would bring together two of the country’s most prominent education technology companies at a time when the sector is adjusting to slower demand and a sharper focus on profitability after the pandemic driven boom.
UpGrad founder and chairperson Ronnie Screwvala confirmed the development in a post on X, stating that Unacademy co-founder and chief executive Gaurav Munjal would continue to lead the company following the acquisition.
“We at upGrad have signed a term sheet to acquire Unacademy in an all stock deal, with founder and ceo Gaurav Munjal staying on to build Unacademy and focus on what it does best, creating online education products that learners love,” Screwvala wrote.
He added that the agreement includes a break fee provision if the transaction fails to close. Screwvala also said the combined entity could strengthen upGrad’s integrated learning model spanning K12 education, professional training and lifelong learning.
Unacademy confirmed that the proposed transaction will be executed through a 100 per cent share swap, with the valuation to be disclosed only after the deal closes and regulatory filings are completed.
Announcing the development on X, Munjal described the agreement as the beginning of a new chapter for both companies and the wider edtech ecosystem.
He noted that Unacademy had spent the past year reshaping its operations to focus more sharply on online education products. Among the steps taken were consolidating company operated offline centres with franchise partners and launching a Rs 50 crore employee stock ownership plan buyback, in which around 40 per cent of former employees have already participated.
Munjal also highlighted the traction gained by Airlearn, the company’s language learning product, which he said is expanding in markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
“Our cash reserves as of today are more than $100 million,” he said.
The proposed deal also marks a turnaround from earlier talks between the two companies that had stalled over disagreements on valuation and structure. Previous discussions had placed Unacademy’s valuation in the range of $300 million to $400 million, according to media reports.
If the transaction goes through, Munjal will continue as co-founder and chief executive of Unacademy, focusing on building online learning products for students in India and global markets.
For upGrad, the acquisition would broaden its footprint across the education spectrum, from school level learning to professional upskilling and lifelong education.
The move comes as India’s edtech sector enters a more sober phase after years of rapid expansion. Companies across the industry have been trimming costs, restructuring operations and seeking scale to build more sustainable businesses.
Against that backdrop, the potential combination of upGrad and Unacademy could signal that the next phase of edtech growth may be driven less by blitzscaling and more by strategic partnerships and consolidation.
