SoftBank-backed Appier acquires Indian marketing automation startup

Sachin Bansal, co-founder of QGraph (L); Chih-Han Yu, CEO and co-founder of Appier (C); Vivek Pandy, co-founder of QGraph (R) / Photo credit: Appier

Taiwanese AI solutions provider Appier has purchased Bangalore-based marketing automation startup Qgraph, it revealed today.

The acquisition – which took place earlier this year for an undisclosed sum – helped Appier build Aiqua, its new marketing automation platform, which was also unveiled today.

Qgraph will no longer operate as a separate brand and will be merged into Aiqua. The B2B platform used to personalize marketing content on websites, which it then distributed via in-app notifications on Android and iOS. Its customers included ecommerce portals, websites, and ad developers.

Appier bought the Indian startup to add this capability to its own product suite, Yu Chih-Han, Appier’s CEO and founder, told Tech in Asia.

Yu said the purchase of Qgraph is not aimed at growing Appier’s presence in India, where it has been operating for the past two-and-a-half years. “It is, instead, an enhancement in our services for our existing customers there,” he explained.

Following the footprints

Ecommerce companies have faced some difficulties in identifying shoppers who use multiple devices to visit their sites. For example, a single customer who uses a mobile phone, a tablet, and a desktop computer to browse at different times of the day may be classified as three separate shoppers.

With Aiqua, the website owner or marketer is able to detect the various user footprints as belonging to the same individual, and induce them to revisit the website or buy items by placing well-timed and personalized promotional messages.

Aiqua “is a good synergy” with Appier’s existing products, such as its data science platform Aixon and advertising suite CrossX, Yu claimed.

“For example, our clients on Aixon can help define the target audience, detect user patterns, and use Aiqua to reach out to those users with specific content they wish to market,” he added.

Yu was unable to disclose any figures relating to Appier’s financial performance, but he claimed that the company is at a “fast-growing pace.”

To date, the firm has raised over US$82 million in total funding. Last year, it bagged US$33 million in its series C round, which saw participation from SoftBank, Line and its parent company Naver, as well as EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board.