MasterCard Advisors invests in analytics firm Mu Sigma

To develop analytic products to enable companies to solve their business challenges

MasterCard Advisors, a division of MasterCard on Friday announced a partnership with Bangalore-based Mu Sigma that combines MasterCard Advisors’ aggregated and anonymous purchase behaviour insights with Mu Sigma’s advanced analytics and expertise.

As per the partnership, MasterCard Advisors and Mu Sigma will jointly develop innovative analytic products to enable companies of all sizes to solve their business challenges–like acquiring customers and increasing customer loyalty.

As part of the strategic partnership, MasterCard has acquired an equity stake in Mu Sigma and additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The data analytics market is rapidly growing as customers seek real time insight allowing them to better connect with their consumers through highly relevant products, offers and services,” said Gary Kearns, Executive Vice President, Information Services for MasterCard Advisors.

Further he also said, “By combining MasterCard Advisors’ purchase behaviour insights with Mu Sigma’s expertise we will be able to drive faster innovations in data analytics solutions and deliver them on a broader scale, globally.”

In December 2011, Mu Sigma had raised around $108-million investment led by General Atlantic which is considered the biggest private-equity investment in the emerging market for analytics services. Earlier in 2011, the company also raised $25 million, led by Sequoia Capital.

According to research by Wikibon, the Big Data analytics market stood at just over $5 billion in early 2012, and is expected to grow at a rapid clip of 58 percent CAGR between now and 2017–resulting in a $50 billion market opportunity within five years. “Big Data analytics is growing at a tremendous pace,” said Dhiraj Rajaram, CEO of Mu Sigma.