In a world where technology shapes every interaction, marketing is no longer just about creativity but also about innovation. In 2023, the global martech market was valued at nearly $ 670 billion, as per market research firm Statista, underscoring the rapid evolution of marketing technology. The rise of AI, automation, and data-driven solutions has transformed how businesses engage with their audiences, enabling more personalised, efficient, and impactful marketing strategies. As the industry continues to grow, martech platforms are becoming essential tools for brands to streamline operations and drive customer loyalty. Netcore Cloud is a global martech company specialising in customer engagement and communication solutions. Its offerings include omnichannel marketing platforms, behavioural analytics, and AI-driven personalisation tools to enhance customer acquisition, engagement and retention.
Netcore Cloud’s revenue from operations declined 3.88% to Rs 787.68 crore in FY24 from Rs 810.26 crore in FY23, as per the regulatory filings accessed by Tofler. However, the company’s net profit saw a sharp decline of 61.35%, dropping to Rs 19.49 crore in FY24 from Rs 50.34 crore in FY23. In conversation with BrandWagon Online, Siddharth Gopalkrishnan, COO, Netcore Cloud talks on the company’s growth strategies, focusing on AI-driven innovations like Co-Marketer and AI twins, scaling in high-growth regions, and maintaining profitability while prioritising ethical martech practices.(Edited Excerpts)
What are Netcore Cloud’s top priorities and growth strategies for 2025? Any specific innovations or markets you’re targeting?
Our primary focus for 2025 is on growth, and a significant part of that is leveraging AI to help marketers enhance their profitability. AI, and more recently generative AI, has been a buzzword for the past year and a half, but at Netcore Cloud, we’ve gone beyond the hype. We were among the first to introduce an initiative called Co-Marketer, which acts as a marketer’s buddy. It’s designed to simplify and accelerate tasks like content creation, audience segmentation, and campaign automation, all powered by a robust AI engine in the background. This initiative has been in development for over a year, and we launched it in mid-2024. Now, the focus for 2025 is to fully productise it and scale its adoption across key regions, including emerging markets like India, Southeast Asia, and even the U.S. The tool is already embedded within our product platform, and we’re confident it will become an essential resource for marketers globally.
While India continues to be an incredibly important market for us, contributing significantly to our growth, what’s exciting is how well our efforts are paying off outside of India. Currently, 50% of our business comes from international markets, and regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America have shown immense promise. These clusters have been key drivers of growth, and we’ve seen tremendous traction there over the past three quarters. The U.S. is also a strategic focus area, where we see ourselves uniquely positioned to tap into the opportunities the market presents, especially through our offerings in search, web, and email products. To capitalise on these opportunities, we’ve been doubling down on investments in talent, infrastructure, and localised strategies in these regions over the past year and a half. For 2025, our priority is to further scale our presence in these high-growth regions by devoting disproportionate resources to ensure sustained success. We’ve already started seeing great traction, but we believe there’s still so much untapped potential in these markets that we’re ready to explore.
How is Netcore Cloud planning to harness AI-driven solutions to maintain a competitive edge in the market?
AI and generative AI have been a focus for us at Netcore Cloud for over five years now, so this isn’t a new direction for us—it’s something we’ve been investing in systematically. Last year, we launched our Co-Marketer product, which has generative AI embedded into every aspect of what we do for our brands and customers. This year, we’re taking it further by productising it and scaling it up significantly.
We’re also experimenting with some exciting new concepts, one of which is AI twins. This is a breakthrough idea where marketers can integrate their ad tech data with market data to create virtual ‘AI twin’ customers. These AI twins mimic real customer behaviours, allowing brands to test campaigns, product bundles, and more—without spending a single dollar. It essentially enables brands to assess the efficacy of their strategies and better understand customer behaviour. For example, why do customers churn? What drives loyalty? What motivates specific decisions? All these questions can be explored through AI twins, and the insights are remarkable. We’ve been talking about AI twins in forums and in conversations with markets over the last six months. 2025 will be the year when this concept goes beyond experimentation and becomes a full-fledged product.
What are your revenue targets for 2025, and how is Netcore addressing profitability challenges in the current market landscape?
Looking at our progress over the last few years, we’ve certainly made significant strides. Our growth has been consistent, and we’re currently seeing double-digit growth. We’re at an 800 crore revenue mark—over $100 million in annual recurring revenue. What sets us apart is that we’re not only profitable, but we’ve also managed to sustain EBITDA positivity over several years. Our margins have been around 13 to 15% consistently, which is something we take pride in, especially in the market we’re in. We’re probably one of the few bootstrap, profitable market platforms at scale right now. There are others who are close to achieving that, but we’ve already reached this milestone. This profitability gives us the ability to continue investing for growth. We understand how to run a profitable, tight operation, and our team, led by Rajesh and Kalpa, has demonstrated this time and again.
Looking ahead, we aim to double our revenue over the next couple of years. Our business model is structured in a way that keeps our economics positive, so we expect to grow both revenue and profitability simultaneously. We’re also very mindful of how we allocate our resources. We’ve become more efficient with our marketing spend, which is something we benchmark ourselves on. We’re also more strategic about which markets to invest in. For example, we’re focusing more on markets like the US, Southeast Asia, and LATAM, while pulling back from certain regions that haven’t performed as well, like parts of India or Africa. That said, our primary focus remains on three key areas: accelerating the AI investments we’ve made and helping our brands improve their performance; enhancing the customer experience throughout their journey with us—from onboarding to customer success; and continuing to drive growth in a sustainable manner. Delivering real impact for our clients—helping them grow their customer base, improve retention, and increase loyalty—remains our top priority. These are the pillars we’re focused on as we move forward into 2025 and beyond.
How does Netcore balance AI-driven solutions with the human touch to avoid misinterpretations or customer frustration?
We help our customers connect with their end consumers more thoughtfully. By integrating AI into our platform, we empower brands to test their content before pushing it out, which reduces the clutter that consumers are bombarded with daily. In a world where we’re constantly exposed to content via emails, WhatsApp, SMS, and apps, we encourage brands to be more strategic with their messaging. Through our platform, brands can limit the number of messages they send and significantly improve the personalisation of those messages. This balance of art and science is where we’re focusing our efforts moving forward.
How does Netcore Cloud balance growth, innovation, and ethical practices in the evolving martech landscape?
We’re extremely optimistic about the future. Martech is evolving quickly, and Gen AI is playing a major role. While driving growth for our clients is our priority, we focus on delivering personalised experiences without overwhelming end consumers. We’re committed to respecting privacy and maintaining the integrity of the consumer relationship.
Growth doesn’t mean compromising on these values. We believe in a responsible approach to data privacy and trust. Brands are shifting from focusing solely on profitability to refuelling growth, and our platform helps them connect, convert, and retain customers, which ultimately drives profitability. Our goal is to help create the next 100 profit champions and expand our success across regions.
How does Netcore’s expanded partnership with Google Cloud align with its overall growth strategy?
Our partnership with Google Cloud has been nothing short of transformative. It enables us to invest in the right areas while delivering top-notch customer experiences for our clients. By leveraging Google Cloud’s platform and marketplace, we make processes more seamless and efficient for our customers. Additionally, collaborating with Google allows us to co-create innovative solutions and stay aligned with emerging trends and consumer behaviours, accelerating the pace of innovation on our platform. The global nature of this partnership also positions Netcore firmly on the international map. Being one of Google Cloud’s premier partners in the region underscores our credibility and technical commitment. It signals to the industry that we’re serious about this space, not a fly-by-night operator. We’ve been resilient, building our foundation for decades, and this partnership reaffirms that we’re here to stay and continue growing globally.
Given the unique dynamics of the Indian market, particularly its price sensitivity, how does Netcore Cloud adapt its customer engagement strategies to address local consumer behaviours and regional variations effectively?
We recognise that each region has unique market dynamics, and the needs of enterprise and SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) customers in India differ significantly from those in Southeast Asia or North America. To address this, we rely on our locally embedded customer success teams, who understand the nuances of each market and work closely with clients to ensure our platform aligns with their business goals. These teams play a critical role in helping customers navigate challenges like integrations with third-party tools, tailoring content to local preferences, and optimising campaigns for better engagement. By maintaining a strong local presence, we ensure that our solutions are not only relevant but also highly effective for each specific market.
Additionally, we stay agile by closely monitoring market changes and rapidly integrating with new players or technologies emerging in different regions. This allows us to remain current and consistently deliver value to our clients while helping them address shifting consumer behaviours and preferences more effectively. This local-first approach gives us a distinct advantage over competitors and reinforces our commitment to customer success.