Kantar acquires Italian AI company MindIT

MindIT, a spin-out from Bologna University, specialises in machine-learning algorithms and AI and has been collaborating with Kantar’s trade optimisation revenue management offer since 2018. The team will join Kantar’s trade optimisation SaaS business to “advance their vision for an integrated, end-to-end revenue growth management (RGM) platform”, according to the data analytics multinational.

CPG and FMCG companies use RGM tools to make planning decisions to optimise their trade spend and maximise value realisation. For such brands, trade spending typically accounts for 25% of annual revenue, making trade optimisation revenue management their second-biggest expense after cost of goods sold.

Kantar’s is one of the top three RGM platforms globally, managing billions of dollars of clients’ trade spend. Acquiring MindIT’s AI engine along with its UX capabilities is described as a move that “positions Kantar as a market leader in offering an end-to-end RGM solution”.

Commenting on the acquisition, Cedric Guyot, executive managing director of trade optimisation at Kantar, said: “We know that RGM is a top priority for CPG/FMCG companies, with many currently going through the painful journey to digitalise their revenue management processes. Kantar’s vision for a world-leading, end-to-end RGM platform is being co-designed with our top clients.”

MindIT chief executive Alessio Bonfietti added: “Since our company was founded 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.”