Ipsos MMA has been named a Leader—and a Customer Favorite—in The Forrester Wave™: Marketing Measurement and Optimization Services, Q1 2026, a notable endorsement in a market where measurement credibility increasingly determines budget decisions.

The report evaluates marketing measurement providers across 31 criteria, spanning current capabilities and long-term strategy. Forrester’s focus this year zeroed in on how well vendors help enterprises measure and optimize performance across channels, geographies, and customer segments—an increasingly complex mandate as media fragmentation accelerates and CFO scrutiny intensifies.

Ipsos MMA stood out, earning the highest possible scores in 20 evaluation criteria, a result that reflects both technical depth and operational maturity.

Why This Recognition Matters Now

Marketing measurement is undergoing a structural shift. It’s no longer enough to explain what worked in hindsight. Modern organizations want always-on, forward-looking intelligence that connects marketing activity to enterprise outcomes—revenue, profit, and long-term growth.

Forrester’s Wave arrives at a moment when brands are rethinking attribution, rebalancing short- and long-term investments, and demanding closer alignment between marketing and finance. In that context, Ipsos MMA’s dual recognition as both a Leader and a Customer Favorite is particularly telling: it signals not just analytical strength, but trust.

Unified Measurement at Scale

A central theme in Forrester’s assessment is unified measurement, an area where Ipsos MMA received strong praise. According to the report:

“Ipsos MMA shines with strong measurement tools, a hands-on consulting approach, and demonstrated acumen for complex measurement. The Activate measurement platform delivers unified measurement at scale—most clients do some type of unified modeling.”

That emphasis matters. Many enterprises now operate across dozens of channels, multiple countries, and both B2C and B2B motions. Fragmented measurement approaches—separate MMM, MTA, lift studies, and dashboards—often create more confusion than clarity.

Ipsos MMA’s approach consolidates these views into a single, coherent framework, helping decision-makers see how different levers work together rather than in isolation.

Consulting as a Differentiator, Not an Add-On

Beyond tools and models, Forrester highlighted Ipsos MMA’s client engagement and change-management approach, an area where many measurement initiatives stumble.

“Each consulting engagement starts with a detailed discovery roadmap for C-suite, finance, operations, and other teams. This first step in a change-management framework evolves as clients mature and trust measurement.”

That focus on organizational adoption reflects a hard-earned lesson in measurement: insight only creates value if people believe it and act on it. By engaging stakeholders across marketing, finance, and operations early, Ipsos MMA positions measurement as a shared enterprise capability rather than a marketing-only exercise.

Customer Favorite: What Clients Are Saying

Ipsos MMA’s Customer Favorite designation reinforces that point. In its evaluation, Forrester cited direct client feedback:

“Customers love working with Ipsos MMA and praise its modeling capabilities, measurement unification, and consulting across the enterprise.”

In a category often criticized for black-box models or overly academic outputs, client enthusiasm is a meaningful signal. It suggests Ipsos MMA has managed to balance statistical rigor with practical usability—a combination that’s increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.

Data Quality and Benchmarking at Enterprise Scale

Forrester also pointed to Ipsos MMA’s data quality and benchmarking capabilities, noting:

“Global benchmarks from 70+ sources monitor performance and assess data quality.”

As marketers contend with signal loss, privacy constraints, and inconsistent platform reporting, benchmarking has become less about league tables and more about validation. Being able to ground results in broad, cross-market benchmarks helps organizations trust their models—and defend decisions internally.

Built for Complex, Global Organizations

The report positions Ipsos MMA as particularly well-suited for enterprises with complex, multi-target and multi-country needs:

“With its powerful modeling and hands-on consulting, Ipsos MMA is a good fit for organizations with complex, multi-target (B2C and B2B), and multi-country measurement needs.”

That positioning aligns with broader market demand. Global brands increasingly need measurement systems that can flex across regions while still rolling up to a consistent executive view—no small feat in today’s media landscape.

Executive Perspective: From Reporting to Value Creation

Ipsos MMA leadership framed the recognition as validation of a long-term strategy focused on impact, not just analytics.

“Our clients face increasingly complex marketing investment environments,” said Pat Cummings, CEO of Ipsos MMA. “They require solutions capable of spanning multiple countries, channels, and customer segments. We believe this recognition reflects our ability to translate data and sophisticated analytics into actionable, forward-looking intelligence that CFOs, CMOs, and boards can confidently use.”

That theme—connecting marketing to financial outcomes—was echoed by Doug Brooks, Chief Client Officer, who emphasized the evolution of measurement itself.

“Marketing measurement has evolved beyond answering the ‘what worked’ to an always-on capability linking marketing and operational investments to finance,” Brooks said. He pointed to Ipsos MMA’s Unified Measurement Framework, Agile Attribution technology, and NextGen AI capabilities as enablers of faster recommendations, real-time demand tracking, and closed-loop optimization across the full media taxonomy.

The Bigger Picture for Marketing Measurement

Ipsos MMA’s performance in the Forrester Wave reflects a broader shift in the measurement market. As boards and CFOs demand clearer accountability, measurement providers are being judged not just on models, but on their ability to drive decisions, adoption, and incremental value.

In that sense, the Q1 2026 Wave reads less like a technical scorecard and more like a litmus test for enterprise readiness. Ipsos MMA’s standing suggests it has crossed that threshold—moving measurement from retrospective reporting to a strategic engine for growth.

For marketing leaders navigating rising complexity and scrutiny, that distinction may matter more than any single score.

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French rare-disease specialist Advicenne has reached another milestone in its Middle East expansion. The company announced that Sibnayal®, its treatment for distal Renal Tubular Acidosis (dRTA), has received both marketing authorization and reimbursement approval in the United Arab Emirates.

The decision positions the UAE as the second Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country to approve Sibnayal, following Saudi Arabia’s authorization in July last year. For Advicenne, it’s not just regulatory progress—it’s a commercial and strategic validation in a region where dRTA prevalence is significantly higher than in Europe or the United States.

Why the UAE Approval Matters

dRTA is a rare but serious kidney disorder that disrupts the body’s acid-base balance, often leading to growth impairment, kidney stones, and long-term renal damage if left untreated. While the condition is considered ultra-rare in Western markets, genetic forms of dRTA are more common in the GCC, with an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 patients across the region.

That higher prevalence makes regulatory and reimbursement access especially critical. In the UAE, Sibnayal will now be both approved and reimbursed, removing a major barrier to adoption in a market where rare disease therapies often face delays or limited coverage.

The reimbursed annual treatment cost in the UAE is comparable to Saudi Arabia and aligned with top European pricing, signaling strong recognition of the drug’s clinical value by regional health authorities.

A Second GCC Win—and a Strategic Signal

This authorization reinforces Advicenne’s broader GCC strategy. Rather than pursuing isolated approvals, the company is methodically building regional momentum, leveraging success in one market to support approvals in neighboring ones.

Sibnayal is already being prescribed under early access programs in several GCC countries, including the UAE, which likely helped smooth the regulatory path. With full authorization now in place, Advicenne can transition from limited access to broader, more sustainable commercial rollout.

Importantly, Advicenne retains the marketing authorization, while its regional partner Taiba Rare handles local commercialization—a structure designed to combine centralized control with local market expertise.

The Role of Local Partnership

Advicenne credits much of its GCC progress to its collaboration with Taiba Rare, one of the region’s leading distributors of specialized and rare-disease medicines.

Didier Laurens, CEO of Advicenne, emphasized that the UAE approval reflects sustained joint effort rather than a one-off regulatory success.

“This additional marketing authorization in one of the GCC countries results from the tireless efforts of the teams at Advicenne and Taiba Rare,” Laurens said. “The reimbursed price recognizes the added value of the treatment and enables patients to be treated in a region where the prevalence is among the highest in the world.”

From Taiba Rare’s perspective, the approval strengthens its positioning as a key player in rare disease access across the Middle East.

“This milestone reflects our strong commitment to addressing rare diseases in the region,” said Saif Alhasani, CEO of Taiba Rare. “This approval represents important and positive news for the dRTA community in the UAE.”

Sibnayal and the Competitive Landscape

Sibnayal is a fixed-dose combination of potassium citrate and potassium bicarbonate, designed specifically to address the long-term management challenges of dRTA. By simplifying dosing and improving tolerability, it aims to improve adherence compared to traditional alkali therapies—an important factor in chronic pediatric and adult rare diseases.

In rare-disease markets, clinical differentiation matters, but pricing, reimbursement, and distribution often determine real-world impact. Securing reimbursement at a level comparable to leading European markets puts Sibnayal in a strong competitive position, particularly in a region where imported therapies can face steep pricing pressure.

A Broader Trend in GCC Healthcare

The UAE approval also reflects a broader trend across the GCC: greater prioritization of rare diseases and genetic disorders. As national health systems invest more heavily in specialized care and screening programs, regulators are increasingly willing to reimburse innovative therapies that address unmet needs—especially when prevalence is higher locally.

For biotech and specialty pharma companies, the GCC is evolving from a peripheral market into a strategically important region, particularly for rare and orphan indications.

What Comes Next for Advicenne

With Saudi Arabia and the UAE now secured, Advicenne has established a meaningful foothold in the Gulf. Additional GCC approvals could follow, supported by real-world use data and growing clinician familiarity with Sibnayal.

For patients, the immediate impact is clearer access to a reimbursed, purpose-built treatment. For Advicenne, the UAE decision strengthens both its revenue outlook and its credibility as a rare-disease player capable of executing beyond Europe.

As rare-disease innovation increasingly looks beyond traditional Western markets, Advicenne’s GCC progress offers a case study in how targeted partnerships and regional focus can unlock meaningful growth.

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If your brand isn’t showing up in AI-generated answers, it may already be losing deals before a prospect ever visits your website. That’s the premise behind Yolando, a new competitive intelligence and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform that officially launched today with $8.5 million in total funding from Drive Capital.

Yolando is built for a reality many marketing teams are only beginning to confront: buyers now consult AI tools like ChatGPT, not just Google, to decide which brands even make the shortlist. The platform is designed to help companies understand how they appear in AI-generated responses—and, more importantly, what to do about it.

Why AI Answers Are the New Front Door

The traditional marketing funnel has quietly shifted. Instead of landing on a homepage or clicking a paid ad, prospects are increasingly starting with a conversational prompt: Who’s the best vendor for X? Which company should I trust?

The brands mentioned in those AI-generated answers gain an immediate advantage. Those that aren’t effectively disappear.

This change affects nearly every sector that depends on visibility and trust—from B2B SaaS vendors chasing enterprise deals to law firms, healthcare providers, and financial services companies competing locally. When AI answers a question like “Who’s the best option in my area?”, the response often determines who gets considered at all.

Yolando positions itself squarely at this inflection point, aiming to give marketing teams a way to influence those AI-driven outcomes rather than simply observe them.

Built by Marketers Who Felt the Shift First

Yolando isn’t a theoretical product built in isolation. Founder and CEO Matt Bogoroch also leads BirdseyePost, a fast-growing marketing software company that was already feeling the downstream effects of AI-driven discovery.

As AI tools began influencing which vendors made it onto buyer shortlists, Bogoroch’s team realized something was missing from the market. Existing platforms could measure visibility and sentiment, but they stopped short of helping teams respond in a meaningful, scalable way.

So they built their own.

In production use at BirdseyePost, Yolando reportedly reduced demand-generation friction, improved visibility in AI-generated answers, and accelerated deal velocity. According to the company, inbound leads originating from ChatGPT were worth 20% more in revenue and closed 40% faster than leads from Google search, outbound sales, or referrals.

What started as an internal solution has now been commercialized for other teams navigating the same transition.

“Before a prospect ever visits your website, they’ve already asked ChatGPT who to trust,” Bogoroch said. “If you’re not in that answer, you’re not in the conversation. Yolando makes sure you are.”

How Yolando Tries to Stand Apart in a Crowded GEO Market

The rise of generative search has triggered a rush of new GEO tools, many of which focus heavily on dashboards, rankings, and sentiment scores. Yolando’s pitch is that insight alone isn’t enough.

Instead of stopping at visibility analysis, the platform combines continuous competitor monitoring, strategic recommendations, and on-brand content generation—closing the loop between insight and execution.

The idea is simple: if a competitor gains traction in AI-generated answers, marketers shouldn’t just see it. They should know exactly how to respond.

Yolando’s recommendation engine is built to support that workflow by:

• Tracking new on-site content published by competitors and proposing a strategic response

• Alerting teams when rivals gain visibility for high-intent prompts or search terms

• Flagging drops in brand sentiment or ranking before they impact pipeline

• Identifying content gaps that keep brands out of AI-generated responses

• Generating publish-ready content briefs in one click to speed execution

The emphasis is on speed and clarity. As Bogoroch puts it, many tools “tell you that you’re losing” but leave the fix as an exercise for the reader. Yolando aims to compress weeks of analysis and planning into minutes.

The Technology Under the Hood

At the core of Yolando is a proprietary model trained on millions of webpages to identify the patterns that influence LLM citation and recommendation behavior. Rather than focusing only on traditional SEO signals, the model looks at why specific AI systems choose to mention certain companies over others.

According to Shardul Frey, Co-Founder and CTO, this approach is meant to avoid one of the common pitfalls of AI-generated content: repetition.

“Traditional AI-generated content often just parrots existing sources,” Frey said. “We trained our system to identify patterns that actually drive LLM citation behavior, so every piece of content Yolando generates introduces something genuinely new to the conversation.”

The platform coordinates more than 40 specialized agents that handle research, competitive analysis, fact-checking, and formatting. Real-time performance data feeds back into the system, allowing the model to refine its recommendations as AI behavior evolves.

A Feedback Loop Few Startups Have

One unusual advantage for Yolando is its operating structure. The same team building the platform continues to run and scale BirdseyePost alongside it. Both companies operate under one roof, giving Yolando a built-in proving ground inside a high-growth business facing AI-driven buyer behavior daily.

That feedback loop could matter as generative search continues to change quickly. Instead of reacting months later to industry shifts, Yolando is being stress-tested in real buying cycles as they happen.

Why This Matters for MarTech Leaders

GEO may still sound like a buzzword, but the underlying shift is already underway. AI-generated answers are becoming a new layer of influence—one that sits above websites, ads, and even brand search results.

For marketing leaders, the implication is clear: visibility is no longer just about ranking on Google. It’s about being recognized, trusted, and cited by AI systems that increasingly shape buyer decisions.

Yolando’s launch is a sign that this space is moving from experimentation to execution. As generative engines become a permanent part of the discovery journey, tools that connect insight to action may define the next phase of marketing optimization.

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While much of enterprise AI remains stuck in pilots and proofs of concept, Fisent Technologies is making a strong case that applied generative AI has crossed into real-world production.

The company reported 206% year-over-year total revenue growth in 2025, alongside 365% growth in licensing revenue, positioning itself as a fast-emerging standard for turning unstructured enterprise content into automated, auditable outcomes. Just as notable: Fisent recorded 173% net revenue retention and zero customer churn over the past three years, rare metrics in a market crowded with experimental AI tools.

From AI Experiments to Production-Grade Automation

Fisent’s momentum is being driven by growing adoption of Fisent BizAI, its applied GenAI process automation platform designed to eliminate bottlenecks created by unstructured data—documents, emails, contracts, forms, and other content that traditional automation struggles to handle.

Customers are not stopping at single deployments. On average, enterprises are now running more than three BizAI implementations, with additional rollouts planned across departments. In fact, 90% of customers added at least one new use case in 2025, and all existing customers have identified further deployments for 2026.

This pattern reflects a broader shift in enterprise AI strategy: organizations are moving away from siloed AI agents toward platforms that can scale reliably across functions such as operations, finance, customer service, sales, legal, and compliance.

Agentic AI, But With Enterprise Guardrails

In 2025, Fisent doubled down on product innovation with the release of its agentic “Actions Framework,” positioning BizAI not as a passive AI layer, but as an active system that executes decisions within enterprise workflows.

Key additions included:

• BizAI Studio, a self-serve environment giving customers real-time visibility into performance and configuration

• BizAI Actions, specialized capabilities that transform unstructured content into automated decisions

• A confidence rating system designed to match the rigor and auditability of human expert decisions

• Enhancements to Fisent’s GenAI Efficacy Framework, supporting pre- and post-production testing and validation

In regulated industries—where AI governance remains a major barrier to adoption—Fisent also completed a 2025 SOC 2 Type 2 audit with expanded scope and comprehensive penetration testing, reinforcing its focus on security-first AI deployment.

Traction in Financial Services and Beyond

Fisent’s strongest traction continues to come from financial services, where customers across banking, lending, wealth management, and insurance collectively generate more than $30 billion in annual revenue. Firms including AEGIS London, CMG Financial, major global wealth managers, and multiple large banks are using BizAI to automate tasks traditionally dependent on human expertise.

Outside financial services, adoption is spreading into industrial sectors. Westinghouse Electric, for example, implemented BizAI to streamline parts and equipment fulfillment across nuclear facilities—an environment where precision, compliance, and reliability are non-negotiable.

Industry Recognition and Market Signal

The company’s progress has not gone unnoticed. In 2025, Fisent was:

• Named to both the KMWorld 100 Companies That Matter Most and the KMWorld AI 100

• Awarded the LaunchPad Impact Award at PegaWorld 2025 for measurable enterprise automation outcomes

• Featured in research from Deep Analysis, IDC, and Celent

• Covered by outlets including Forbes, Fortune, ZDNET, FinTech Futures, and Finextra

These endorsements underscore a growing consensus: enterprises are no longer looking for AI that merely analyzes data—they want systems that act, integrate, and scale safely.

Looking Ahead: The “Last Mile” of Automation

Heading into 2026, Fisent is focused on converting a growing pipeline of Fortune 500 customers, many of whom view unstructured content processing as the final barrier to full automation. For these organizations, closing that gap can unlock tens of millions of dollars in operational value.

As enterprises push beyond AI experimentation, Fisent’s strategy—high-precision automation, deep legacy integration, and production-first design—positions it squarely in the camp of vendors turning generative AI from promise into measurable business impact.

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Acoustic has been positioned as a Leader in the 2025 SPARK Matrix™ for Multichannel Marketing Hubs (MMH) by QKS Group, reinforcing the company’s growing relevance as enterprises rethink how they orchestrate customer engagement across channels.

The recognition highlights Acoustic’s performance across both technology excellence and customer impact, with particular emphasis on its flagship platform, Acoustic Connect™, which aims to unify real-time intent detection with large-scale, cross-channel activation.

Why Acoustic Stood Out in a Crowded MMH Market

According to QKS Group, Acoustic differentiates itself by embedding real-time journey orchestration and audience intelligence directly into the platform’s core, rather than offering them as optional modules. This architectural choice matters at a time when marketers are under pressure to respond instantly to customer behavior—without adding operational complexity.

Acoustic Connect enables brands to act on behavioral and transactional signals across email, SMS, mobile, and web, supporting adaptive campaigns that adjust in real time. In practice, this allows marketing teams to move away from static, rules-based campaigns toward engagement models driven by live customer intent.

Richa Choubey, Senior Analyst at QKS Group, noted that Acoustic’s approach reduces operational overhead while improving precision—an increasingly important balance as marketing teams face tighter budgets and higher performance expectations.

Governance and Compliance as Competitive Advantages

Beyond engagement capabilities, QKS Group pointed to integrated consent management, deliverability controls, and a unified audience model as key strengths of Acoustic Connect. These features position the platform well for enterprises operating in regulated environments, where compliance and data discipline are no longer optional.

As privacy regulations tighten globally and first-party data becomes the foundation of marketing strategy, platforms that bake governance into their design—rather than bolting it on later—are gaining an edge. Acoustic’s positioning reflects this shift, aligning with broader enterprise demand for compliant, privacy-first engagement infrastructure.

A Signal of Broader Industry Trends

The Multichannel Marketing Hub category itself is evolving. Enterprises are increasingly looking to replace fragmented, legacy marketing stacks with unified platforms that combine orchestration, analytics, and activation. Vendors that can deliver speed, intelligence, and measurable outcomes in a single system are emerging as consolidation winners.

From QKS Group’s perspective, Acoustic’s depth of integration, analytics capabilities, and ongoing investment in innovation place it well for long-term relevance as MMH platforms become central to digital customer experience strategies.

Acoustic’s Vision: From Campaigns to Intent-Driven Engagement

Acoustic CEO Jon Ziglar framed the SPARK Matrix recognition as validation of the company’s strategic direction. Rather than optimizing individual channels, Acoustic is focused on enabling intent-driven engagement, where each customer interaction is informed by real-time behavior and powered by first-party data.

This positioning reflects a broader industry pivot: marketing effectiveness is no longer measured by channel performance alone, but by how seamlessly brands can interpret and act on customer intent across the entire journey.

With decades of experience supporting global enterprises and delivering billions of personalized messages annually, Acoustic continues to bet on platforms that help marketers act in the moments that matter—where relevance, timing, and trust converge.

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The global digital advertising industry is entering its next phase of expansion—larger, smarter, and far more complex. According to a new report added to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the global digital advertising market is expected to grow from $414.52 billion in 2025 to $819.51 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.03%.

The forecast underscores how deeply digital channels are now embedded in global marketing strategies, even as advertisers contend with privacy restrictions, signal loss, and a shifting measurement landscape.

Digital Advertising’s Structural Tailwinds Remain Intact

At its core, digital advertising continues to benefit from structural shifts in consumer behavior. High-speed internet penetration and near-universal smartphone adoption have permanently altered how audiences consume media, pushing brands toward platforms that offer scale, precision, and measurable outcomes.

Search engines, social media platforms, websites, and mobile apps now serve as the primary conduits for brand discovery and commerce. The rise of e-commerce has accelerated this transition, prompting advertisers to redirect budgets away from traditional media in favor of digital environments that deliver real-time performance data and clearer attribution.

Despite mounting regulatory pressure, the sector’s financial resilience remains evident. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported that U.S. internet advertising revenues climbed 14.9% in 2024 to a record $258.6 billion, highlighting advertisers’ continued confidence in digital channels—even as targeting capabilities evolve.

Social Platforms and Influencers Fuel Engagement-Led Growth

Social media platforms remain one of the strongest growth engines in the digital advertising ecosystem. Their ability to combine algorithmic targeting with high-engagement formats—particularly short-form video—has made them indispensable for brand-building and performance marketing alike.

Influencer marketing has become a strategic pillar within this ecosystem. Creator-led storytelling allows brands to establish trust and relevance across diverse demographics, often outperforming traditional display formats in engagement and recall.

This momentum is reflected in platform earnings. In its Q3 2024 results, Meta reported a 19% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue to $39.9 billion, reinforcing the role of social platforms as primary recipients of global marketing spend.

Retail Media Emerges as a Privacy-Safe Powerhouse

As third-party cookies fade and cross-site tracking weakens, retail media networks have emerged as one of the most strategically valuable segments in digital advertising.

Retailers are capitalizing on their vast repositories of first-party purchase data to offer closed-loop attribution, directly linking ad exposure to sales outcomes. For advertisers navigating privacy constraints, this model delivers something increasingly rare: high-intent audiences with measurable ROI.

Amazon’s performance illustrates this shift. In Q3 2024, the company reported a 19% year-over-year increase in advertising services revenue to $14.3 billion, signaling how retail media is reshaping budget allocation decisions across industries.

This broader rebalancing aligns with Dentsu’s forecast that digital channels will account for 59.6% of total global advertising expenditure in 2024, cementing digital’s majority share of ad spend.

Privacy Regulations Reshape Targeting Economics

While growth prospects remain strong, the industry faces mounting challenges from stricter privacy regulations and the systematic deprecation of third-party cookies. These changes are dismantling long-standing data infrastructures used to track users across devices and platforms.

The resulting “signal loss” has reduced targeting precision and made it more difficult to attribute conversions accurately. As transparency declines, advertisers are often forced to spend more to achieve the same level of engagement.

According to the IAB’s 2024 findings, 87% of ad buyers reported increased advertising costs directly linked to privacy legislation and data signal loss. This inflationary pressure is reshaping programmatic strategies and limiting scalability—particularly for smaller players without robust first-party data assets.

Generative AI Transforms Creative at Scale

One of the most significant shifts underway is the integration of Generative AI into creative production and optimization. AI-powered tools now enable advertisers to generate thousands of personalized ad variations in real time, tailored to specific audience segments and contextual signals.

This approach dramatically lowers production costs while increasing campaign agility. Static creatives are giving way to dynamic formats that continuously optimize based on performance data.

Alphabet highlighted this trend in its Q3 2024 earnings, reporting a 10% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue to $65.9 billion, driven in part by rapid adoption of AI-powered creative and search tools.

Connected TV Accelerates the Shift Away From Linear Media

Connected TV (CTV) and OTT advertising are redefining the video advertising landscape as marketers migrate budgets from linear television to streaming platforms.

CTV combines the immersive impact of traditional TV with digital capabilities such as addressable advertising, advanced targeting, and cross-device measurement. As consumers continue to abandon cable bundles for on-demand streaming, advertisers are following audiences into these environments.

The IAB’s 2024 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report projects CTV ad spend to grow 12% year-over-year to $22.7 billion, outpacing growth across the broader media market.

The Outlook: Bigger, Smarter, and More Constrained

The digital advertising market’s trajectory toward $819.5 billion by 2031 reflects both opportunity and tension. Growth is increasingly driven by AI, retail media, and video innovation, while privacy constraints force advertisers to rethink targeting, measurement, and budget efficiency.

For brands and platforms alike, the next decade will reward those that can balance personalization with compliance—leveraging first-party data, AI-driven creativity, and closed-loop measurement to thrive in a post-cookie advertising economy.

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Mendra, Inc. has officially entered the biopharmaceutical arena with an ambitious pitch: use artificial intelligence to fix what’s long been broken in rare disease drug development. The newly launched company announced it has closed an $82 million oversubscribed Series A round, co-led by OrbiMed, 8VC, and 5AM Ventures, with participation from Lux Capital and Wing VC.

The funding gives Mendra both validation and firepower as it sets out to modernize how rare disease therapies are identified, developed, and ultimately delivered to patients—an area of medicine where scientific promise often collides with commercial and logistical complexity.

Applying AI Where Rare Disease Development Struggles Most

Rare disease drug development faces a familiar set of challenges: small and geographically dispersed patient populations, slow clinical trial enrollment, and fragmented global commercialization pathways. Mendra’s strategy is to deploy AI across each of these bottlenecks rather than treating technology as a standalone discovery tool.

According to the company, its platform will focus on:

• Accelerating patient identification to reduce the time and cost of finding eligible trial participants

• Improving clinical trial enrollment, a frequent cause of delays in rare disease programs

• Supporting global market access, helping therapies reach patients beyond traditional U.S. and EU launch geographies

The Series A capital will also be used to acquire and develop initial rare disease assets, forming the foundation of Mendra’s therapeutic portfolio.

A Hybrid Model: Asset-Centric, Platform-Enabled

Unlike pure AI drug discovery startups, Mendra is positioning itself as a rare disease-focused biopharma company augmented by AI, not replaced by it. The emphasis is on combining deep domain expertise with software-driven decision-making across asset selection, development strategy, and commercialization planning.

“We are building Mendra to deliver high-potential rare disease medicines more effectively to patients on a global scale,” said Joshua Grass, co-founder and CEO. He noted that AI-driven capabilities could help address some of the most persistent inefficiencies in rare disease drug development, including long timelines and inconsistent execution.

Leadership Built for Scale and Specialization

Mendra’s leadership team reflects its dual focus on rare disease execution and advanced technology.

• Joshua Grass, Co-founder & CEO, brings more than two decades of biopharma leadership experience, including successful exits at Modis Therapeutics and Escient Pharmaceuticals, as well as a key role in building BioMarin’s rare disease portfolio.

• Jeff Ajer, Chief Commercial Officer, previously served as CCO at BioMarin, where he built global commercial infrastructure and launched multiple rare disease therapies worldwide.

• Lalarukh Haris Shaikh, Ph.D., Co-founder & CTO, comes from Palantir Technologies, where she led life sciences and aerospace initiatives, bridging healthcare and advanced data platforms.

• Gregory Balani, Pharm.D., VP of Business Development, adds experience from Escient Pharmaceuticals, Zogenix, Bayer, and most recently as a venture investor at Avego Bioscience Capital.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

Investor interest in AI-enabled biopharma has surged, but rare disease remains a particularly attractive niche. While patient populations are smaller, regulatory pathways can be clearer, and successful therapies often command premium pricing and long market exclusivity.

By combining capital discipline, AI-driven infrastructure, and executives with proven rare disease track records, Mendra is betting it can shorten development cycles while expanding access to underserved patient populations worldwide.

If successful, the company could offer a blueprint for how AI-powered commercialization and clinical execution—not just discovery—may define the next phase of biopharma innovation.

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The global baking mixes market is on a steady rise as convenience, consistency, and cost efficiency reshape how consumers and food businesses bake. According to a new report from Verified Market Research, the market—valued at $6.61 billion in 2024—is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2026 and 2032, reaching $11.09 billion by the end of the forecast period.

That growth reflects a broader shift in global food consumption patterns, where time efficiency and standardized quality increasingly outweigh traditional, from-scratch preparation—both at home and in commercial kitchens.

Convenience becomes a core demand driver

One of the strongest tailwinds for the baking mixes market is the global appetite for convenience foods. Urbanization, dual-income households, and time-constrained lifestyles are pushing consumers toward ready-to-use solutions that simplify meal and dessert preparation without sacrificing taste or reliability.

For commercial operators—particularly quick-service restaurants, cloud kitchens, and in-store bakeries—baking mixes offer clear operational advantages. They reduce labor dependency, minimize ingredient sourcing complexity, and ensure consistent output across locations. From a B2B perspective, this translates into stable, high-volume demand and long-term supply contracts, making the category attractive for manufacturers focused on scale and predictability.

Home baking evolves from hobby to habit

At the same time, home baking is experiencing a renaissance. Social media platforms have turned baking into both a creative outlet and a form of personal expression, driving demand for easy-to-use mixes that deliver professional-quality results.

This resurgence is no longer limited to basic cakes and cookies. Consumers are increasingly seeking premium, organic, gluten-free, and protein-enriched baking mixes, pushing manufacturers to innovate beyond traditional formulations. The premiumization trend is expanding margins while opening up new brand-positioning opportunities, particularly in mature markets where differentiation is critical.

For investors and product strategists, this signals that growth is being driven as much by value-added innovation as by volume.

Foodservice expansion strengthens bulk demand

The rapid expansion of the global foodservice industry is another key growth engine. Cafés, bakeries, hotels, and institutional catering providers rely on baking mixes to maintain consistency, control costs, and scale efficiently—especially in regions facing skilled labor shortages.

Emerging markets are playing a growing role here. As organized foodservice expands across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and parts of the Middle East, baking mixes are becoming an essential input for standardized, repeatable menu offerings. This trend supports recurring, bulk demand and strengthens revenue visibility for suppliers.

Cost pressures and consumer perception remain hurdles

Despite positive momentum, the market faces notable constraints. Volatility in raw material prices—particularly wheat flour, sugar, cocoa, and dairy—continues to pressure margins. Climate variability, geopolitical disruptions, and trade policies can quickly destabilize supply chains, making cost forecasting more complex for global producers.

At the consumer level, perception also plays a role. A segment of health-conscious buyers still prefers scratch baking with fresh ingredients, viewing baking mixes as overly processed or high in sugar and additives. This skepticism is pushing manufacturers toward clean-label reformulations, which can increase R&D costs and extend time-to-market.

Private labels intensify competition

Competition within the baking mixes market is intensifying, particularly from private-label brands. Large retailers are leveraging price advantages to capture share, squeezing margins for established brands and raising promotional costs.

In parallel, relatively low entry barriers in some regions are encouraging local players to enter the market, increasing fragmentation. For established manufacturers, sustained growth will depend on brand differentiation, innovation, and strategic partnerships rather than price competition alone.

Regional outlook: maturity meets momentum

Geographically, North America continues to dominate the global baking mixes market. High consumption of packaged bakery products, advanced food processing infrastructure, and widespread acceptance of convenience foods underpin strong demand in the U.S. and Canada.

Europe follows closely, supported by a mature bakery culture and growing interest in premium and organic mixes, particularly in Germany, the U.K., and France.

Asia-Pacific stands out as the fastest-growing region. Rapid urbanization, rising disposable incomes, and increasing exposure to Western-style baked goods are driving volume-led growth across China, India, and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa are showing steady progress, aided by improving retail infrastructure and investment from multinational manufacturers.

A stable, innovation-led growth story

Overall, the baking mixes market presents a picture of stable, long-term growth anchored in convenience, foodservice expansion, and evolving consumer preferences. While raw material volatility and competitive pressures remain, innovation in specialty and clean-label products is creating new revenue streams.

For manufacturers and investors alike, success will hinge on localized product strategies, cost optimization, and strong distribution partnerships—particularly in high-growth emerging markets. As convenience and creativity continue to converge in the kitchen, baking mixes are positioned to remain a staple across both households and commercial food operations.

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