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Sularia and Dimitrov: the executives behind Intelligence Node

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MUMBAI: It’s as low profile as they come. Mumbai-based retail ecommerce analytics firm  Intelligence Node hit the headlines after it was acquired by global marketing solutions company the  Interpublic group for a healthy $100 million. Not much is known about the firm –  or its founders – to executives in the business world, but it is seen as a star in the world of retail and retail analytics.

Intelligence Node co-founders CEO Sanjeev Sularia and chief data analytics officer Yasen Dimitrov met each other when they were employed at UK-based  firm ClientKnowledge as heads of analytics & research in 2008 And they hit it off.  The firm was acquired by ICAP in 2010.

Yasen went on to work for Expand Research as analyst practice leader where he was  responsible for managing and delivering business research projects and strategy initiatives such as market and competitor analysis, benchmarking, KPIs, and helping clients optimise growth. He  also implemented a change-management programme that reduced analyses production time by 45 per cent through a process-re-engineering and formalisation program for the analysis and research groups. The firm was acquired by Boston Consulting Group in 2013.  

Sanjeev, on his part, joined  Exclusively.in (an e-commerce portal for upscale fashion – now acquired by Snapdeal)  and Shersingh.com (a private label e-commerce fast fashion portal inspired by cricket – now under Myntra)  as CFO between 2011 and 2012. It was there that he gained a deeper understanding of the retail industry and understood what lacunae in terms of data and intelligence plagued retail.

He created  CIBnode in 2010, the precursor to Intelligence Node, while working at the two firms. His idea was to create one of the world’s largest and cleanest retail databases, tracking over 1.2 billion products across nearly 100 languages.

Yasen, who was based in the United Arab Emirates,  came on board in 2014 after it evolved into Intelligence Node. He  managed operations, analytics architecture, and category expansion; including building and maintaining the largest database in the industry and a team of top-flight in-house data scientists. Sanjeev focused on client acquisition and making the business vision a possibility

Along the way they brought in high profile angels to fund their dream project as well as marquee investors including MegaDelta, NEA, Orios VP, CornerStone VP, Caliber VP.

It is the commitment to accuracy and excellence that has driven the firm to come up with products that wowed  clients such as Walmart, Nestle, Lenovo, LVMH, Prada, Unilever as they tried to stay on top of the global retail trends and the ever-changing consumer.

Today Intelligence Node’s proprietary AI technology offers competitive intelligence and real-time analytics across pricing and promotions, assortment and availability, digital shelf, and brand compliance.

Yasen has a master of science in finance degree from Hult International Business School, while Sanjeev is a graduate of London Business School. 

In an alternate life, Sanjeev would have been a bartender at Lord’s; the home of cricket. An avid cricket fan, he has played professional cricket and waited tables at the Lord’s too. Hence, his extreme level of fitness as he continues to play even to this day, but in local matches. Sanjeev also loves writing and is frequently featured on the Forbes Technology Council.

With the Interpublic group now acquiring intelligence Node, the duo, along with the team at the company are sure to get the scoreboard ticking even faster. 

MAM

Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

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MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.

The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.

The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.

Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.

Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.

For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.

More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.

The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.

In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.

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Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

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Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

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MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

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SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC  head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.

Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.

Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.

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