India-headquartered travel tech firm RateGain Travel Technologies is acquiring Adara, a Silicon Valley-based firm in travel martech and predictive consumer intelligence. The cost: a mere $16.1 million, according to RateGain’s filing on the Indian stock market. Through the acquisition RateGain is looking to build the most comprehensive travel-intent and data platform powered by artificial intelligence.
Singapore-based data center firm Digital Edge is reportedly close to acquiring a plot of land outside Mumbai, India, on which to develop its first facility in the country. The India Economic Times reports the company is in “advanced talks” in advanced talks to acquire a 47-acre land parcel in Thane, Maharashtra, along with realty developer Assetz Property Group from steel manufacturer Mukand.
Let’s continue looking at story lines for 2023. We’ll start with digital transformation. This CMO Council report paints a mixed picture: 89% of respondents think digital transformation is achieving good results but less than 12% see their enterprise leaders as highly strategic and adept at deploying new technologies.
Martech keeps taking larger bites out of marketing budgets: 17.3% last year, 19.9% this year, 23.5% next year, and 30.9% five years from now, according to the latest CMO Survey. This despite barely more than half (56.4%) of current tools being used and nearly half (48.8%) of the survey respondents reporting worse-than-expected results. Oddly enough, marketers rate selecting marketing technologies as the thing they do best.