AI firm Mad Street Den acquires New York-based Inturn

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Artificial Intelligence-based Software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Mad Street Den (MSD) on November 8 acquired New York-based inventory management SaaS company Inturn for an undisclosed amount.

Inturn, which has raised over $70 million to date, will be Mad Steet Den’s first acquisition globally.

Founded in 2013 by retail and technology experts, Inturn offers enterprise solutions to help companies manage unsold inventory across all verticals. Presently, Inturn supports some of the largest global brands and retailers like Unilever, Kind, and more.

“Every year around $150-$180 billion is lost due to excess inventory across the globe, across several verticals. Many companies don’t know what to do with excess inventory. Inturn is one company that really played a big role in addressing this issue,” said Ashwini Asokan, co-founder of Mad Street Den in interaction with Moneycontrol.

While the pandemic accelerated this business, Asokan added that the present recession is forcing many businesses to adopt stringent inventory management.

“Now, we are in a full-scale recession at this point and everybody is talking about inventory management and there is no doubt that the top priority now and for the next three years will be inventory and supply-chain management,” Asokan added.

Mad Street Den founded in 2016 by Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran has created AI-based solutions, through its Vue.ai business unit, that help retailers grow their business by reducing operational costs through automation and increasing revenue with personalised customer experiences.

“This strategic move comes as a natural extension of Vue.ai’s vision to provide customers with intelligent solutions to not only manage but also more effectively optimise supply chain processes and planning,” Asokan said.

Vue.ai counts Macy’s, Mercadolibre, and Tata amongst its global clients, and is focused on global markets like the US, UK, MENA, and the Middleeast. Asokan said that the company will double down on expansion in the Middleeast and the US. “I forecast a lot of consolidation globally and in the Middleeast and the US, we see accelerated growth,” she said.

“Combining Inturn’s inventory workflow tools and margin optimisation capabilities together with Vue.ai’s retail AI suite, customers now get the power to not only effectively use AI to optimise supply chain processes and planning but also weave it into customer experiences to create efficiencies across the entire retail value chain,” Asokan added.

In June, Tata Digital for its super app Tata Neu partnered with the Chennai-based Mad Street Den (MSD) to use the firm’s product Blox.AI to provide a connected and customisable shopping experience.

“We are investing in millions of dollars and building local teams across the globe especially in the US and in the Middleeast…while the recession is having an impact but AI is on top of the mind of many investors,” She added.

In 2019, MSD raised $17 million in a Series B round led by Falcon Edge Capital, with participation from investors Sequoia Capital India and Global Brain. The company had raised a total of $27.5 million till 2019.

SaaS companies have slowed down hirings and are taking up cost rationalisation due to the fear of recession globally.

“There is definitely an impact of the recession, however, we are betting big on our segment…and this is actually a fantastic time for us to double down on growth and we are focussing on creating a market for us and we are also staying cautious of the environment,” Asokan said.