Publicis Groupe acquires Neev; launches Razorfish in India

The new venture, called Neev Razorfish, will be headed by Saurabh Chandra.

Publicis Groupe, today, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Neev, a technology services provider in eCommerce, SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud applications across web, social media and mobile. It will be a 100 per cent subsidiary of Publicis Groupe.

Publicis has also decided to bring Razorfish to India. Razorfish is an interactive marketing and technology company that operates in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin and North America.

Speaking on the strategy behind bringing Razorfish to India, Kanika Mathur, managing director, Razorfish and Digitas India, says, "Razorfish uses technology, creative and media solutions to create business transformation for clients. The idea is to help companies enhance their business models or invent new products and services by envisioning how digital capabilities can enable them to enter new or adjacent spaces."

Publicis plans to align Neev with Razorfish and form a new venture, Neev Razorfish, which will be headed by Saurabh Chandra, CEO of Neev. Chandra will report to Mathur. The new venture will be headquartered at Bengaluru, with plans to set up offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Mathur says, "At the core of Razorfish lies innovation and technology. Neev mirrors this expertise. With the combined entity in place, we will be able to provide services for clients who are looking at transforming their business models using technology and digital."

Neev was founded in 2005. It has a strong team of 250 employees and works with several brands across India and the US. It has developed complex solutions such as custom rule engines, massively scalable social media analytics, Tier 1 SMS gateway, iPhone/Android/BlackBerry applications and many more.

Publicis Groupe has acquired several properties in the last 16 months. Recently, it acquired Convonix, a Mumbai-based search marketing agency; iStrat, a Delhi-headquartered integrated digital agency; and MarketGate, a Mumbai-based strategic business and marketing consulting firm.

Some of its other acquisitions in 2012 were Resultrix, Mumbai-based performance marketing agency, and Indigo Consulting, a Mumbai-based digital agency, that operated as a unit within the Leo Burnett Group.