Kantar acquires Bologna-based AI specialist MindIT

Fresh off the divestment of Kantar’s reputation division (now part of Onclusive), the London-based company has acquired decision support systems software house MindIT. A spinout of Bologna University, the company develops products that use AI, ML, and combinatorial optimisation techniques. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

MindIT and Kantar have been collaborating since 2018, and the acquisition is more of a formality than anything else, as both MindIT’s IP and entire development team will now become (officially) members of Kantar’s trade optimisation SaaS business unit, further advancing the company’s goal of creating an end-to-end revenue growth management platform.

With consumer packaged goods/fast-moving consumer goods companies spending approximately 25% of annual revenues on trade costs, revenue growth management has become a key factor in obtaining a maximised bottom line. MindIT fits into the puzzle by bridging the gap between insights and execution, an attractive component for Kantar, to say the least.

“Since our company’s founding in 2017, we have been focused on applying AI to some of the consumer goods industry’s biggest challenges. In joining Kantar’s trade optimisation team, one of the world’s largest revenue management SaaS vendors, we get to apply our vision at scale and help consumer goods manufacturers wherever they are in their transformation journey,” commented MindIT CEO Alessio Bonfietti.

“Kantar’s vision for a world-leading end-to-end RGM platform is being co-designed with our top client,” added Kantar’s Cedric Guyot. “The integration of MindIT’s capabilities is a crucial step in delivering against this vision and gives Kantar full control of the R&D roadmap for the Trade Optimisation portfolio of solutions.”