Tech Mahindra Buys Iconic Agency, BORN Group; Madison Alley Advises BORN on the Strategic M&A Transaction

The summary below includes excerpts from BORN Group’s press release.

Madison Alley is delighted to announce that its client BORN Group, a leading digital transformation agency with a focus on customer experience and enterprise commerce solutions, has been acquired by Tech Mahindra Ltd., a global specialist in digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering services.

Private equity firms True North and Zodius Capital, growth capital and build-out investors, respectively, set forth to create a new-age marketing agency to help brands adapt to the digital economy.  In 2011, BORN was formed by combining two acquired firms – Group FMG, a content production house, and Pod1, a NY-based marketing boutique specialized in creative design. Since then, BORN has experienced exceptional growth with operations in eight countries serving over 40 end markets working with a range of enterprise clients. The company is widely recognized and award winning and serves a roster of clients who seek enterprise commerce and customer experience management solutions.

Tech Mahindra Ltd. (NSE: TECHM) employs 131,500+ professionals who speak 18 languages across 90 countries, serving 946 global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Its solutions cover areas like ITO, BPO, business consulting services and digital technologies. Its expansive portfolio of businesses includes Bio, Pininfarina, Target Group, HCigroup, Comviva, and Mad*Pow, amongst others.

“In 2011, we had a dream to create a new-age agency that combined the art of creation and science of execution. I am very happy to say that we succeeded, and in no small measure,” said Dilip Keshu, CEO of BORN Group. “Our success across North America, Europe and Asia, with a variety of digital platforms, a diverse group of talent people, award-winning work, and a roster of marquee brand names have made us an iconic and hugely respected brand in this industry.’

“All through this journey we have been true to our credo in being authentic, committed, capable and bold. The commitment from True North to BORN was resolute and unwavering. With this acquisition by TechM, the synthesis of technology and marketing will propel us to great heights, and I hope we continue to grow with our clients. As we say at BORN, ‘Onwards. Upwards.’”, added Dilip Keshu.

CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra, said, “We’re delighted to welcome BORN Group to the Tech Mahindra family. The acquisition reinforces Tech Mahindra’s focus on Digital and enhances our expertise in the Creative, Content and Commerce space and establishes us as a significant player in the rapidly growing Electronic and Mobile Commerce segment globally.”

BORN is the latest acquisition to Tech Mahindra’s portfolio of innovative and strategic digital solution agencies. BORN will continue to operate as an independent entity under the Mahindra Group umbrella and looks forward to continuing their path of success, together.

Madison Alley Global Ventures and Avendus Capital acted as strategic M&A advisors to BORN Group and its shareholders on the transaction.

Michael Seidler, Founder & CEO of Madison Alley, commented, “CEO Dilip Keshu and his seasoned leadership team have established BORN Group as the largest independent customer experience (CX) and enterprise commerce agency for global brands.  Its end-to-end capabilities are truly world-class.  The successful collaboration of True North, BORN’s executive team, Avendus and Madison Alley led to this landmark strategic M&A transaction.”

Commenting on Madison Alley’s role, Dilip Keshu added, “Given the scope and depth of BORN’s offerings, platform support, specialisms and geographic spread, we searched for an investment banker through a competitive process who would not just find us a good strategic buyer, but also one that would respect the cultural fabric of BORN. I am happy to say we selected Madison Alley and they did very well in positioning us admirably, as evidenced by the outcome.”

Connecting creative, content and commerce, BORN is an award winning, global agency that helps brands with digital transformation.

BORN is a global agency and the most awarded in its class. It produces unique brand experiences by connecting ten specialisms that serve as the foundation of the digital economy: creative design, content production, commerce enablement, conversions (visitors to customers), cloud technology, cognition (analytics), cohesion (integrating all the systems),  consulting and completeness (connecting brand experiences) across all channels (360 experiences).  

Tech Mahindra represents the connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric information technology experiences, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise™. Tech Mahindra is a US $4.9 billion company with 131,500+ professionals across 90 countries, helping 946 global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Its convergent, digital, design experiences, innovation platforms and reusable assets connect across a number of technologies to deliver tangible business value and experiences to its stakeholders. The Company is the highest ranked non-U.S. company in the Forbes Global Digital 100 list (2018) and in the Forbes Fab 50 companies in Asia (2018).

Tech Mahindra is part of the US $21 billion Mahindra Group that employs more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. The Mahindra Group operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, after-market, information technology and vacation ownership.

Madison Alley Global Ventures advises clients on strategic capital and M&A transactions, establishing market leaders and realizing premium value exclusively for digital marketing, advertising and media technology, data and services companies.

Led by former digital industry CEOs and Corporate Development executives, Madison Alley’s distinct team has advised on landmark industry transactions, including the acquisition of Eleven by BlueFocus (China), establishing a strategic creative consultancy in the United States; the strategic acquisition of eDataSource, a leading email intelligence platform, by SparkPost; growth investment by GCP Capital into Mobilewalla, the leading mobile consumer data company; the strategic merger of Fluid with Astound Commerce to form the largest independent eCommerce agency; the strategic acquisition of Heat by Deloitte Digital to establish “the world’s first creative digital consultancy”; and the strategic acquisition of Cardinal Path, a leading digital analytics consultancy, by Dentsu Aegis Network.