From 220M data points to revenue: How AI is transforming sports entertainment ROI - Related to how, 220m, giants, d2c, are

Amazon India Extends MoU With DGFT To Enable Ecommerce Exports

The renewal of the MoU is in line with the government’s plans to enable exports worth $200 Bn to $300 Bn out of India by 2030.

Amazon will also offer specialised training sessions across 47 districts in the country and establish “expert communities” for MSMEs.

Under the MoU, Amazon will integrate its export navigator tool within DGFT's Trade Connect Portal to help SMBs understand compliance requirements for exports.

Ecommerce major Amazon India stated it has extended its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to accelerate ecommerce exports from India.

In a blog post, Amazon India stated that the renewed MoU is in line with the government’s plans to enable exports worth $200 Bn to $300 Bn out of India by 2030. Of this, the ecommerce major plans to contribute about $80 Bn.

As part of the latest collaboration, Amazon will integrate its export navigator tool within DGFT’s Trade Connect Portal to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) and entrepreneurs understand compliance requirements for exports.

Under the pact, Amazon will also offer specialised training sessions across 47 districts in the country and establish “expert communities” for MSMEs. In addition, the ecommerce juggernaut will also provide MSMEs guidance on expanding product selection and scaling export operations.

As per the enterprise, the lately launched Amazon Export Navigator is a one-stop dashboard that helps exporters understand, manage, and comply with regulatory requirements both in India as well as destination markets. The enterprise noted that the platform has been envisaged with simplifying exports for small businesses and addressing key pain points such as cross-border compliance, logistics, and payments, among others.

Meanwhile, “export communities” are proposed local offline networks, which will help prospective exporters jump on the ecommerce bandwagon and enable existing sellers to scale up operations through guidance, training, and mentorship.

The enterprise mentioned that each of these communities will be developed under DGFT’s leadership and have participation from government agencies, third party service providers, manufacturers, export bodies, and other stakeholders.

“Our continued collaboration with Amazon is a significant step in realising the vision of making each district an export hub. Building on our initial success, we are expanding our focus to 47 districts to support more MSMEs to access global markets. This partnership has already benefited over 3,000 MSMEs, and we are excited to see its growth…,” mentioned additional secretary and director general of DGFT Santosh Sarangi.

Commenting on the development, Amazon India’s director of global trade Bhupen Wakankar added, “We are excited to extend our collaboration with the DGFT to support MSMEs and entrepreneurs across India to create robust global businesses and contribute to India’s overall exports…”.

It is pertinent to note that the MoU was originally signed in 2023. In the first year of its collaboration with DGFT, Amazon indicates to have organised ecommerce exports promotion events across 20 districts in India, which offered guidance to over over 3,000 MSMEs.

The collaboration is part of the Centre’s larger “Districts as Export Hubs” initiative. Under this, DGFT partners directly with states and union territories (UTs) and district authorities to establish institutional mechanisms for facilitating exports of identified products and services. The scheme has been envisaged with boosting manufacturing and exports in urban areas while stimulating economic activity in rural districts.

Paytm managed to trim its loss by 6% YoY to INR [website] Cr in Q3 FY25, while operating revenue declined 36% YoY to INR 1,[website] Cr.

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From 220M data points to revenue: How AI is transforming sports entertainment ROI

The Super Bowl is one of the largest sports entertainment events on the planet, bringing in more than a hundred million viewers and a billion in revenue.

But for NFL teams and sports entertainment in general, there is a long road to championship as franchises aim to build brand, grow fandom and maximize revenues.

One of the ways to make that happen is AI.

The technology is no stranger to the world of sports entertainment. Predating the modern era of generative AI — as far back as 2017 — big vendors like IBM were already discussing how AI would disrupt sport entertainment networks. The NFL itself is using AI to help improve player safety with a Digital Athlete system developed in partnership with AWS. The NFL is also using AWS to build gen AI-powered apps using the Amazon MemoryDB database.

For individual teams, both in the NFL and across the sports entertainment landscape, there are other options for implementing gen AI. One such option, launching today, comes from Elevate, a technology vendor led by Al Guido, who is also the president of the San Francisco 49ers NFL football team.

The corporation’s new Elevate performance and insights cloud (EPIC) data and AI platform combines consumer insights, ticketing management and property analytics to help sports and entertainment organizations engage superior with fans. The platform helps organizations with targeted engagement efforts to superior understand potential customer personas. That information helps determine stadium seating options, ticket pricing and fan retention. The platform has already been used by more than 25 organizations, including the Tennessee Titans.

Elevate has been in operation since 2018, but now with the advent of gen AI, the organization is able to do much more with data.

“Building EPIC has reinforced a fundamental truth that we’ve seen and validated with our clients since we’ve been in operation — data is only as powerful as the decisions it enables,” Guido, Elevat’s chairman and CEO, told VentureBeat. “In sports, the challenge isn’t just capturing that data but harnessing it to drive real, actionable intelligence that improves fan engagement, revenue strategies and operational efficiency.”.

The data challenges of building an AI-first engagement system.

Elevate already has data for approximately 220 million people in its system. The business collects first-party data through its client work and relationships. This includes data on fan behavior, ticket sales, sponsorships and other property-related information. Elevate also licenses and purchases third-party data sets to further enrich user profiles.

Guido noted that many organizations collect what seems like infinite amounts of data, but they struggle to unify and leverage it. EPIC was designed to bridge that gap.

To fully benefit from modern gen AI, data should be in a vector database format, Elevate contends. CIO Jim Caruso explained to VentureBeat that his firm has undergone an intensive process to not only vectorize data, but to make sure it’s the right data to help inform business decisions.

There is no shortage of database vendors and technologies that claim to make vectorizing data simple. In reality, Caruso stressed that the vectorization process isn’t as simple as turning on a switch. As part of building EPIC, they reevaluated all data and how it could work together to provide the best insights. The actual vectorization process involved testing different approaches and processing pipelines to find the right balance of accuracy and performance.

Currently, Elevate uses Amazon Sagemaker to make its vectorization work.

How Anthopic Claude, XGBoost and Amazon Bedrock help to power AI insights for EPIC.

Caruso explained that the EPIC system provides a wide range of AI-powered applications, from pricing tickets to developing consumer insights personas. Elevate is using a combination of different technologies to build those tools.

At the core is the Anthropic Claude Haiku [website] large language model (LLM), which has been fine-tuned on Elevate’s data. Claude provides the interface to ask questions and get insights based on different personas.

For example, one persona could be a venue operator that wants to determine the best way to configure premium seating in a venue. That operator will need to understand who would be interested in those seats and how they should be marketed to different groups.

Elevate went beyond just identifying broad demographic segments, like suburban millennials. Instead, they created a series of distinct personas with a range of attributes including finances, buying preferences, entertainment choices and social networking engagement. The key goal is to provide very concrete, detailed personas that enable organizations to make specific business decisions.

The system also uses the XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) open-source machine learning (ML) library via Amazon Sagemaker to specifically help with numerical data for ticket pricing. XGBoost is a supervised ML algorithm that uses decision trees to make predictions. Caruso explained that his team converted historical data, as well as real-time data, into 55 different attributes. These include event details, inventory details and recent sales information. All were then then fed into the XGBoost algorithm.

The competitive landscape for AI across sports entertainment.

Guido stated that across the NFL and beyond, the initial response to EPIC has been positive.

Many properties face similar challenges: fragmented data insights, evolving fan expectations and the need for smarter, more efficient revenue generation. Guido also clearly recognizes that the competitive landscape for this kind of technology is expanding. There are traditional customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics providers, like Salesforce, but in his view, they often lack the industry-specific intelligence that EPIC brings to sports and live entertainment.

“What sets EPIC apart is its deep integration with the realities of sports,” stated Guido.

How AI-powered insights are driving real-world impact for the Tennessee Titans.

Among the early clients of EPIC is the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. The team is working with Elevate as it develops a new $[website] billion stadium set to open in 2027.

As part of the engagement, Elevate has helped lead sponsorship sales for the new stadium. The corporation developed a strategic partnership revenue roadmap, a category-specific go-to-market strategy and set annual sales goals through the stadium’s launch.

With EPIC, the Titans have been able to build out detailed personas for fans to inform targeted marketing strategies, from messaging to premium seating and hospitality offerings. Although the new stadium is still several years away from opening, the Titans have been able to exceed sales targets for premium seating already, with data and AI-powered insights as the foundation.

It’s not just for the NFL; college athletics are also benefiting from AI-powered insights.

While there is big money in the NFL, there is also a lot of opportunity (as well as many challenges) at other levels of sports entertainment, including colleges.

“University athletic departments are undergoing a profound digital transformation, and data is at the center of it,” Tom Moreland, chief commercial officer at the University of Illinois Athletics, told VentureBeat. “One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned is that technology alone isn’t the solution — strategy comes first.”.

Moreland explained that his school has been prioritizing how it collects, interprets and applies data to enhance the experiences of its coaches, student-athletes, and fans.

So far, the EPIC platform has provided University of Illinois Athletics with the crucial data-driven insights required to improve football and men’s basketball ticketing, as well as an annual giving model. Moreland mentioned that the EPIC analysis provided intelligence that enabled the school to move beyond assumptions and make strategic, informed decisions. Ultimately, he noted, EPIC empowered his department to create a more engaging and sustainable model for loyal fans and donors.

“Athletic departments that take the time to invest in data quality, structure and application will be the ones that truly benefit from any new technology,” introduced Moreland.

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The deal is expected to complete within the period of 90 days from the date of approval by the Zaggle’s board.

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Why Are FMCG Giants Rushing To Acquire D2C Beauty Brands?

This deal is likely to pave the way for further consolidation, as FMCG players increasingly seek innovative, functional BPC brands to firm up their position in the evolving market.

The latest in this league was Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which acquired skincare and personal care brand Minimalist for INR 2,670 Cr.

Startups in the beauty space have garnered over $1 Bn in funding between 2014 and the first half of 2024, while legacy fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giants like Marico, ITC, and Emami made a dash for the booming market through strategic acquisitions.

The $5 Bn direct-to-home (D2C) beauty and personal care (BPC) space in India, decked up to reach $28 Bn in the next five years, looks too tempting for investors to keep off.

The result is foretold. India’s homegrown D2C brands are rapidly scaling up their businesses and even mapping their way to the capital market. Inc42’s State Of Indian Ecommerce analysis H1 2024 has found that the BPC market is growing the fastest among all the ecommerce segments in India and stays the course to corner over 7% of the overall ecommerce market by 2030.

D2C beauty brands have garnered over $1 Bn in funding between 2014 and the first half of 2024, while legacy fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giants like Marico, ITC, and Emami made a dash for the booming market through strategic acquisitions, leveraging the brand equity and the market presence of the fast-growing D2C players.

The latest in this league was Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which acquired skincare and personal care brand Minimalist for INR 2,670 Cr.

Minimalist established itself as a clinically backed, performance-driven skincare brand, surpassing INR 100 Cr in revenue within eight months of launch. In FY24, the four-year-old organization reported a staggering 89% growth in operating revenue to INR [website] Cr.

With this acquisition, as per industry observers, HUL has signalled its strong intent to expand its premium skincare portfolio to address the growing demand for science-backed, problem-solving beauty solutions.

This deal is likely to pave the way for further consolidation, as FMCG players increasingly seek innovative, functional BPC brands to firm up their position in the evolving market.

However, , partner at Anicut Capital, many of these brands need a strong moat if they want to attract big investors including FMCG giants.

“This advantage will only come from factors like scientific research, R&D, and the quality of ingredients used in product development, as customers have become increasingly discerning. Also, any brand without clear differentiation may struggle to scale successfully,” Kapoor said.

For the FMCG biggies, D2C brands seem to be the right vehicle to reach out to the emerging Gen Z consumer space, industry experts mentioned. The Gen Z consumer is very different from their millennial peers.

“There are several subcategories within the beauty and personal care segment that could be scaled up significantly by addressing this consumer segment,” Prayag Mohanty, principal of Fireside Ventures, expressed.

A host of startups have designed themselves to create beauty and personal care products specifically for teens. These brands have been built from the ground up, considering every aspect – from product formulation and ingredient selection to marketing and distribution. The existence of such brands will only help FMCG players tap directly into the Gen Z space without taking too much pain. (More on this later).

Moving on, while Gen Z and teens grab the focus today, the D2C kids segment has grown quietly, which augurs great business opportunities for the FMCG players.

“Brands cannot target kids directly, but they can reach them through parents by offering high-quality organic products. There is a growing awareness among parents that incumbent brands do not meet their quality expectations,” Kapoor expressed.

Meanwhile, consumers today are increasingly leaning towards natural and premium products, which has made FMCGs quite ambitious to grow their portfolio of premium products. This is also where beauty and personal care D2C brands come in handy.

Not just this, the evolving consumer behaviour towards premiumisation has also attracted global marques to bring their premium beauty brands to India.

Imperative to mention that the premium beauty segment is growing, with the average order value (AOV) for mass-premium brands of INR 500-800 expected to reach INR 1,000-2,000 in the coming years, and FMCG giants want the lion’s share.

One of the key reasons FMCG companies are investing in D2C beauty brands is the opportunity to capitalise on emerging consumer trends and niche markets. These startups are founded by entrepreneurs who have a deep understanding of evolving consumer behaviours, allowing them to create highly targeted and trend-driven products.

“What we see is that each of these acquisitions is targeted at an emerging consumer trend or a new target group. The portfolio gaps are being filled, and the call to make is often between build versus buy. Sometimes buying makes more sense as it saves time and effort in building a brand from scratch,” Mohanty noted.

Minimalist’s rise in the derma skincare category, for instance, reflects the growing demand for highly targeted skincare solutions.

Unlike legacy brands, which may find themselves restricted by existing policies and a focus on their core offerings, the D2C brands are more agile and can align quickly with evolving consumer preferences, such as the shift towards natural, organic, and wellness-focussed products, Anicut Capital’s Kapoor pointed out.

He added that FMCGs have little room and capital for innovation. “While they have been trying to innovate internally, some of these efforts have been successful, but naturally, a product built from the ground up with an entrepreneurial mindset, keeping newer trends in mind, has a faster chance of scaling and becoming successful,” he expressed.

Leveraging The Mutual Distribution Strengths.

The acquisitions have been a win-win for both the FMCG companies as well as the D2C brands. While the deals are throwing open uncharted territories for the FMCG companies, the D2Cs are gaining access to the offline distribution channels of the acquirers.

The marriage of the online presence of the D2C beauty brands and the offline distribution channel of the FMCG companies complement each other to fan out the products across a wider market and cater to a larger section of consumers.

“Once the new D2C brands gain both market share and mindshare, legacy brands recognise a product gap in their portfolio. At that point, they are willing to pay for these brands and integrate them into their product portfolio, as incumbents have large distribution networks built over time. The newer acquisitions can leverage these networks profitably by pushing the products onto the existing distribution channels,” Kapoor noted.

There are essentially two key reasons, , behind the slew of acquisitions not only in the beauty and personal care space but also in the emerging segments like nutrition and health. “The limited innovation from legacy brands and the synergies gained by leveraging distribution strength built over the years,” Kapoor summed up.

A brand like Forest Essentials, for example, has seen significant growth under Estee Lauder’s ownership, largely due to the access to a wider consumer base through offline channels, Mohanty noted. In the grooming space, The Man corporation was acquired and scaled significantly. Similarly, Dr Sheth’s under the Mamaearth portfolio are examples of how acquisitions have enabled these brands to scale quickly and reach consumers they otherwise might not have.

The Curious Case Of Profitability & Strategic Exits.

The economics in the BPC segment are generally strong with high margins. These brands, while not necessarily large, are growing at an impressive rate, often outpacing the growth of some large FMCG players.

“Once these fast-growing startups are integrated into the portfolio of a large FMCG giant, the advantages multiply. Leveraging the distribution muscle of these giants significantly improves the profitability margin. These brands, which may already be profitable at a variable level, will see their margins grow even further once they are part of the larger system,” Mohanty noted.

The D2Cs are not just high-growth businesses, they operate in categories that drive substantial margins. They not only expand an FMCG giant’s portfolio but also enhance its profitability.

“I don’t believe that legacy brands are acquiring these startups merely to fill gaps in their portfolio. Many of these legacy companies are listed, meaning their acquisitions must be accretive to their business. Therefore, these are part of a well-thought-out distribution strategy,” Kapoor argued.

Moving on, while founders are generating great value from these deals, they are also getting cheers from investors. In this BPC segment, investors don’t have to wait for an IPO to exit – a strategic exit is always an option and FMCG deals are accelerating them.

“We’ve seen numerous strategic deals happening in the BPC space, which is great for investors. From an exit perspective, investors don’t have to rely solely on IPOs or financial investors. There’s always the possibility of a strategic exit, which creates value for both investors and founders,” Mohanty stated.

Kapoor believes that there are at least three or four sizable BPC companies generating a monthly revenue run rate of INR 30-50 Cr. These companies are progressing steadily towards significant scale, and once they reach a tipping point, liquidity events will happen.

He noted that investors are likely to benefit as these companies either pursue strategic acquisitions or consider listing, given the growing interest from public market investors who view these businesses as a strong bet in a consumption-driven economy.

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