When you idly tapped on the food delivery app the other day, did you have cold coffee on your mind? Or, on that one rainy evening, did you already crave a cup of steamy hot tea when the app flashed it on your screen? Or that streaming app, which recommends something altogether different for your friends than you?

Who’s reading your mind, you might wonder?

It’s the ever-curious AI that plays the trick with an algorithm to personalise your options on a real-time basis. And, brands seal the deal, as the option tempts you to hit ‘buy’. CleverTap deftly explored this opportunity using artificial intelligence more than a decade back to sync consumer preferences with messaging and offers from brands.

“There was data all over the place,” Anand Jain, cofounder and chief product officer of CleverTap, recalled the early days in 2013.

“It was all disconnected. The analytics players had the analytics data, the SMS provider had the SMS data, and two separate vendors would work on app analytics and product AB testing.”

This was the trigger point for CleverTap.

While the crux of marketing – persuading customers to purchase products or services to address their needs or wants – has remained constant down the ages, the adoption of advanced technology made it significantly sharper by creating value for both the customer as well as the brand.

Marketing technology or martech companies evolved from this juncture as enablers of better customer management strategy for brands. From the use of big data to machine learning-based algorithms, martech companies have found better tools and means to engage with customers more effectively, increase conversion rates, and retain them.

Over time, martech too became more sophisticated with the AI achieving new capabilities that helped improve customer interactions through predictive analytics, hyper-personalisation, and automated real-time actions and conversations. With digital advertising likely to surpass INR 59,200 Cr by end-2025, martech is expected to be a $45 Bn-$55 Bn opportunity for tech startups around the same time.

CleverTap’s 12-Year Journey

Founded in 2013 by three former engineers at Network18 — Anand Jain, Sunil Thomas, and Suresh Kondamudi — CleverTap tried to plug the gaps in how customer data was collected and used by the enterprises.

The SaaS startup has been working on behavioural analytics with the use of a proprietary data analytics platform and AI algorithms to increase user engagement for brands.

CleverTap’s rise today to a $800 Mn startup shows the power of data and what it can unlock for brands. It claims to be working with over 2,000 brands across 100 countries, harnessing GenAI and agentic AI capabilities today, including Reliance Jio, Swiggy, SonyLIV, Decathlon and Croma.

The core platform is built around real-time predictive analytics, recommendations, messaging and boosting conversions for brands. And this building block has now been given a GenAI revamp in recent months.

The company claims to have recently helped Axis Bank........

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