Course5 to raise $75 mn from Temasek, shelves IPO

Mumbai: Data analytics company Course5 Intelligence is in talks with Singapore’s private investment arm, Temasek, to raise $75 million, following its decision to shelve its listing plans due to muted market conditions, three people in the know said.

In January 2022, the company filed its draft prospectus with Securities and Exchange Board of India. “Temasek is looking to invest up to $75 million in the company. This will be a mix of primary and secondary fund raise,” said one of the three people, requesting anonymity.

Course5, which caters to fortune 500 companies across retail, technology, media and entertainment, and telecommunications and pharmaceuticals, among others, was looking to raise up to ₹600 crore through its IPO and an additional ₹60 crore in pre-IPO placements. It had appointed investment bank Axis Capital and ICICI Securities to manage the public issue.

“Due to the muted market conditions, the company has decided to raise funds from PE investors. The capital will be used for inorganic growth,” the second person said, seeking anonymity. Apart from expanding to newer markets, the firm is looking at acquiring adjacent capabilities through acquisitions.

Founded in 2007 by Ashwin Mittal, Course5 Intelligence is a digital, marketing and customer analytics company.

Its artificial intelligence (AI) driven products and intellectual property-led solutions are supported by industry specific domain experience and latest technologies, as it aims to help organizations with solutions to complex issues related to their customers, markets and competition at speed and scale.

Its clients include Lenovo, Colgate-Palmolive Co, American Regent, Inc (a member of the Daiichi Sanyo Group) and the National Bank of Fujairah PJSC. According to its draft prospectus, data and analytics is likely to account for 13.9% of its estimated digital spending at $2.3 trillion by 2024.

“Globally, there is a rising acknowledgement of niche capabilities by pure play analytics players and the analytics and AI-led analytics services market is expected to grow at CAGR of 24.8% and 32.7%, respectively, over 2020-2024,” it had said.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated digital adoption resulting in the majority of the companies globally determining to digitize their core business model to remain economically viable, it said. The company earned profit of ₹29.72 crore in FY21 against ₹16.93 crore in previous year, Its revenues for FY 21 were ₹247.19 crore.