Interview: Lorenzo Larini X Mind Media - “We aim to consolidate the martech market, whose fragmentation is alarming”

Can you introduce MINT and explain how your solution fits into the martech ecosystem?

MINT is a SaaS software that was launched in 2020. More than 90% of our client base consists of brands, and we position ourselves as an enterprise-grade solution for Advertising Resource Management (ARM)—a system for automating and optimizing media buying, in the same way that Salesforce and SAP do for CRM. Many companies are ready to invest in the martech sector, but right now there is a multitude of solutions coexisting in this space, which reflects a very high degree of market fragmentation. This is getting worse year after year. In 2019, there were about 7,000 martech companies. In 2023, that number reached 11,000, and in 2024 it rose to 14,000. In five years, the number of martechs worldwide has doubled. This is a positive sign in that it reflects strong market demand and a lot of energy to seize the opportunity. But it’s also an alarming signal. In this context, we decided to offer a fully automated platform for orchestrating and optimizing media buying—digitizing the entire process from media planning to financial reconciliation.

Given this context, what opportunities do you see in martech in the years ahead?

If we look at Forrester data, it’s true that the martech sector is growing, probably by about 13% through 2027. But if we look at marketing budgets as a percentage of company revenue, according to the latest data I’ve seen, there was a slight decrease in 2024. This shows that most companies now have to do more with less. That’s the new paradigm they’re operating in. And it’s not possible to do more with less unless you have a complex, fully automated tech ecosystem at your disposal.

You acquired info³ in February, a Paris-based research firm that enables large multinational companies to manage their media and marketing plans worldwide. Why this acquisition?

info³ was a very strong acquisition thanks to its expertise in media planning and financial reconciliation. What we also value about info³ is that among their clients are multinational companies that invest heavily in advertising, such as Beiersdorf. They have a proven solution that has been working well for several years with some of the world’s biggest brands. Since the martech sector is extremely fragmented—especially when it comes to media planning—our goal with this acquisition is to move toward consolidation of this market. For these same reasons, we are currently reviewing other acquisition opportunities in this field. The goal is to continue consolidating it and to create the next generation of media planning tools. We also want to expand further in the United States, where we already have a presence, and which remains a key market for us. The acquisition of info³ in France was a great opportunity, and the United Kingdom could be as well. We can also support our growth through global partnerships—as with consulting agencies like Accenture, Slalom, and EY—or industry-specific ones, such as with the Association of National Advertisers in the U.S.

With the acquisition of info³, are you also aiming to strengthen your presence in France?

France is a very dynamic advertising market, expected to reach €18 billion in media ad spend by 2030. It’s home to some of the largest brands in the world and also one of the most complex markets in terms of managing advertising operations. More than half of investments already go to digital, which means companies need to operate increasingly in real time if they want to make effective decisions. So it’s a perfect market for us. France is also investing heavily in AI. There are very interesting companies and potential partners in this field as well—and info³ already works with many of them. So there are several reasons pushing us to strengthen our presence in this very dynamic market.

MINT presents itself as an AI-powered Advertising Resource Management platform. How is AI integrated into your solution?

Our platform is built on three main layers. The first is a fully digitized workflow that is interoperable with any other existing solution—whether it’s social networks, DSPs, or ad servers. Its end-to-end orchestration already relies on artificial intelligence, notably to recommend the best possible media budget allocation based on specific, fully configurable KPIs. Then comes the data layer, which is essential not only for reporting, but also for making the AI work properly. We help our clients collect data from internal and external sources, harmonize it, and optimize it. Once you have a clean and centralized dataset, you can train and operate agent-based AIs—the workforce of the future—which is the final layer of our solution, one we’ve been working on for a long time. We have teams of virtual agents, configurable by role—for example, a media planner or a financial analyst—who collaborate with each other like a real team, and also with human teams on the client side, to accomplish concrete tasks.

What are your development goals for the platform in 2025?

Right now, our AI agents can make recommendations, but they can also take action on the platform and execute tasks—such as allocating budgets across channels—to maximize the efficiency of our clients’ campaigns. We are working so that, in the future, these agents can execute these tasks not just within MINT, but across any of the client’s technological solutions.

Who are your main clients?

Companies that invest only in search or social, with just a few hundred thousand euros per year, are not our core target. It starts to get interesting from €1 million in media investment, ideally more than €2 million. Our largest clients invest more than €100 million per year. We also work with media agencies, which allows us to reach many more clients. In France, one of our main clients is Air France. We initially worked with them on a few pilot countries, and following the results achieved, the company decided to extend the collaboration to around fifty countries. In terms of contracts, due to our operating model and the customization of the platform and AI agents for each client, we usually sign multi-year agreements—two, three, or even five years. This also gives us some stability.

What kind of growth has MINT experienced since its launch?

Since 2020, our compound annual growth rate has been about 40%, while maintaining strong margins and a solid EBITDA.

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The full French version is available on Mind Media website.

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