Business insights provider Nielsen acquires Indian analytics firm

Business intelligence provider Nielsen (NYSE:NLSN) has acquired Indian niche data analytics firm Indicus Analytics.

Indicus mines custom economic insights using analytics and data products. It provides information about the economy and consumers at extremely granular levels – specific to city, district, and neighborhood. Within this, the information is further segmented into income groups.

The firm was founded in 2000 by Dr Laveesh Bhandari, who holds a PhD in economics from Boston University and has taught economics there and at IIT, Delhi. Indicus’ methodologies include patent-pending algorithms that are capable of distilling insights from the data. These insights are valuable for decision-making. Indicus clients include ministries, policy groups, companies, and consultants.

In a statement announcing the move, Piyush Mathur, president for Nielsen India, says:

With the acquisition of Indicus Analytics, Nielsen will add capabilities for macro and microeconomic research and analytics with relevance for both public and private sectors.

The two firms together will develop “new services to provide solutions that will deliver insights to understand Indian economic activity by micro geography, enable demand forecasting for various product and service categories, and understand consumer segments by income, education, health, infrastructure and other micro parameters,” the statement adds.

The financial terms of the Indicus acquisition have not been disclosed.

Headquartered in the US and the Netherlands, Nielsen has a foothold in 100 countries. Through Nielsen, Indicus will now have access to a wider clientele. “We see the acquisition by Nielsen as the next stage of our growth. We can now look forward to expanding our premier services and products not just in India but globally as well,” Dr Bhandari says.

Though the flow of venture capital into Indian technology startups has picked up momentum in the last four years, mergers and acquisitions have been few and far between. Seen in that context, the acquisition of Indicus will enthuse investors looking for opportunities in India – especially in the data analytics space where Indian tech talent comes into play.

In July, big data analytics innovator Mu Sigma, one of the most successful Indian tech startups with a billion-dollar valuation, acquired Singapore-based social media analytics firm Webfluenz.

See: Here’s an indicator of just how immature the Indian startup ecosystem is compared to Israel