Cornerstone Ventures, a SaaS-focused venture capital firm in India, has successfully exited Intelligence Node, a retail analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The exit was achieved through a $100 million acquisition by global advertising giant Interpublic Group (IPG).
This marks a significant milestone for Cornerstone Ventures, which had earlier exited Wigzo Technologies, acquired by logistics unicorn Shiprocket in 2021.
Cornerstone Ventures first invested in Intelligence Node in 2019, recognizing the company’s innovative approach to helping global retailers optimize pricing, product content assortment, and decision-making using cutting-edge analytics.
Founded in 2012, Intelligence Node is a real-time eCommerce intelligence platform that empowers brands and retailers to maximize digital shelf presence, elevate visibility, drive search performance, and optimize assortment, pricing, and promotions strategy.
Its innovative approach has transformed global retail by enhancing pricing, product content, and assortment strategies for top-tier retailers.
Cornerstone Ventures’ portfolio includes notable players in the Service SaaS space, such as ManageArtWorks, THB, EnParadigm, WatchYourHealth and Credit Nirvana, as well as SaaS + Marketplace models like Blubirch, Credilio, and Mystifly.
“This marks the second exit for Cornerstone Ventures Fund I (after Wigzo Technologies was acquired by logistics unicorn Shiprocket in 2021). With just two exits the fund has returned around 20 per cent of the corpus raised and has several of the remaining 19 portfolio companies coming up for liquidity events in the near term. The fund expects to return ~100 per cent of the corpus over the next 18-24 months, and overall deliver a 3.5-4 times multiple through its lifetime (another five years to go)!,” said Abhishek Prasad, Managing Partner at Cornerstone Ventures.
“We have always been excited about Intelligence Node’s focus on a well-defined global need. The company has been able to deliver tangible customer benefits enabling improved margins and competitiveness for its customers, over the years. The acquisition reflects the value the company could create for the advertising conglomerate. This is a testament to our investment thesis where we invest in the early-growth stage of a company building in India for the world, especially given that the buyer is a listed company in the US! We are pleased with the outcome of our partnership and look forward to their continued success under IPG,” said Nanika Kakkar, Partner at Cornerstone Ventures.
“We have always focused on empowering our clients with data-driven insights that can drive real business value.” “Our partnership with Cornerstone Ventures played a significant role in accelerating our growth and bringing these innovative solutions to a broader market. This acquisition by IPG marks a key step in our journey, opening up new opportunities for our company and clients alike,” said Sanjeev Sularia, CEO of Intelligence Node.
