Enterprise India Magazine Interaction With Mr. Lee Puri & Mr. Varun Mohan
DATE: 23rd April 2025
SPOKESPEOPLE: Mr. Lee Puri, Co-Founder, MiQ
Mr. Varun Mohan, Chief Commercial Officer India, MiQ
1. Can you share the story behind MiQ’s inception and its journey to becoming a leader in the media industry? What were some of the most critical decisions that shaped MiQ’s evolution into a global adtech player?
Lee Puri: When we launched MiQ in 2010 from the UK, programmatic media was very much in its most analog state and was transitioning into digital. At the time, my business partner, Gurman Hundal and I were both working in the traditional ad network space, and we recognised the incoming shift – where media inventory would increasingly be traded and bought through new technology and biddable platforms in a far more effective way.
That was when we made the decision to launch a company that helps agencies and clients ride this seismic wave of change in the industry. We basically stepped into the unknown with programmatic marketing, or real-time bidding as it was called in the early days. It was a brand new innovation that was effectively only months old when it came over to Europe from the United States. We were among the first offering it to advertising agencies and making it accessible for their businesses.
We started out under the name ‘MediaIQ,’ and we had three primary things we wanted to accomplish:
- Deliver the very best performance for any kind of client and agency that wants to trade media online
- Provide them with the very best levels of insight that they could get, as a transparent third-party partner, which was very unusual in those days
- Supplement our innovative proposition with world-class service that clients could rely on in this new space
We opened for trading on October 1st, 2010, as a fully self-funded company (which we still are to an extent), and the business gained traction very, very quickly. We achieved profitability in weeks, and we’ve maintained a strong trajectory since to the present day.
There are plenty of critical decisions we made along the way that are responsible for us reaching this level of success. The ones that come to mind immediately are:
- Being bootstrapped – we believe that if we want to be a company that can innovate and be agile, we need to be financially independent in order to scale. That is something we prioritise to this day.
- One of our key strategic imperatives is that we aim to remain agnostic in all aspects of our business – from the data that we connect to, to the products that we sell, to the buying points we utilise. Each of these functions allows us to be as agile as possible, and gives us the ability to continually innovate in line with the evolution of the industry and our clients’ needs.
- We decided that the best way to deliver and provide a managed service for clients would be to work with the very best technologies on the market. We started with upcoming technologies like AppNexus (now Xandr), DB360, and a few other trading platforms, and today we’ve moved on to all of the evolving AI capabilities we can tap with the goal of driving the best results for clients.
2. In this crowded media landscape, how do you feel MiQ stands out amongst competitors? Is it the technology, the business approach, or other factors that play the largest role?
Lee Puri: One of the most important things that MiQ brings to the table right now is our ability to connect all the dots within the programmatic ecosystem. We haven’t fixed ourselves in any element of the business—from the platforms we work with to the products we sell and the data over which we connect. Everything is deliberately built to be agnostic and agile, which means we can diversify at any given moment. And with that diversification comes the ability to scale.
Right now, what we’re seeing is that our ability to position ourselves as a company that delivers the best programmatic outcomes for agencies and clients sits squarely on our agility. Take TV, for example. Instead of aligning with just one connected TV provider, we’ve designed the business to have deep-level partnerships—like with Pixability, which enables a YouTube measurement experience for clients who want precise targeting. We also work with ACR providers globally, giving us access to chips within TVs, so we can measure both linear and programmatic TV trends. On top of that, we work with a wide range of OTT providers.
By not fixing ourselves in any way, we’re able to bring a 360-degree perspective and evolve our products continually to deliver the best experience for clients. A lot of global competitors go down a more siloed route, which has different benefits and drawbacks, but we’ve chosen to remain agile and agnostic. That mindset has taken MiQ from “little old MiQ in 2010” to the multibillion-dollar business we are today.
3. How does MiQ leverage technology and data to create impactful media solutions for its partners? Especially with AI reshaping adtech, how is MiQ adapting globally to stay ahead of the curve?
Lee Puri: At MiQ we see the next generation of adtech coming from the developments in Connected TV (CTV), retail media, and AI, which can all unlock the next phase of exponential growth. These parts of our portfolio will be central to how we’re evolving globally.
Connected TV, for instance, has been a journey for us since 2018. It started in the US, and now it’s a critical part of our business across the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and is now growing in markets like India. All the signs here indicate that CTV will be a game changer.
There are local nuances to adapt for, which will supplement the universal consumption trend on the big screen. We’re well-positioned to help advertisers capitalize on this shift, using the depth of insight we’ve built over years, across both linear and connected perspectives. CTV, in my opinion, is one of the final barriers to unlocking offline media spend into the programmatic ecosystem, and we’re already recognised globally for our ability to bridge that linear-to-programmatic journey.
Retail media is one of the fastest-growing areas in digital advertising globally. We’re seeing this in North America and Europe, and we believe India will follow that trend. So as a business, we’re focused on three main pillars: what people are watching (CTV), what they’re browsing (the broader internet) and what they’re buying (retail media), AI is the connective tissue tying it all together, driving smarter decisions across the board.
On the AI front, we’ve been doing machine learning-based media buying for over a decade, so that part isn’t new. What’s changed is how AI is now helping us operate more intelligently beyond ad buying. We’re using it to improve everything from insight generation to operational efficiency and client servicing. The real differentiator will be who can use AI not just to optimise campaigns, but to fundamentally elevate the client experience and deliver better outcomes across the board.
Our newest development is MiQ Sigma, which is really quite exciting! It’s our transformative AI-powered advertising technology trained on the world’s most connected data set. Its unified intelligence platform brings together data, technology, and campaign workflows, applies advanced AI to make smarter, data-driven marketing decisions, and fundamentally shifts how brands and advertisers connect with consumers in today’s fragmented digital landscape.
Some of the key features and functionality include:
- Sigma Intelligence: Powerful visualization featuring hundreds of diverse data feeds, spanning ‘watching, browsing and buying’ behaviors of over 1.7 billion global audience profiles, all connected together to provide marketers unmatched scale and visibility to target consumers.
- Gen AI Personas: Custom audience profiles, built by generative-AI and accessed through natural language prompts, bring audience planning to life in seconds. These personas can then form the basis of campaign development, turning insights into actions in minutes.
- Trading Agent: Campaign management and optimization features are supported by an interactive trading agent, trained on 15 years of MiQ trading data and underpinned by the three leading Large Language Models in the world, enabling traders to make decisions through simple, natural language commands, automating analysis and improving performance.
- Seamless Activation: Broad intelligence and custom audience segments put to use in just a few clicks across all major trading platforms, providing a level of speed and confidence unrivaled in programmatic buying.
- Report Generator: Flexible, on-demand tool provides visibility into campaign performance, giving traders the ability to optimize campaigns in real-time and increase overall control.
4. What are some of the biggest challenges MiQ has faced in the fast-evolving media landscape, and how did you overcome them?
Lee Puri: One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced, like many businesses, was the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s wild to think that was five years ago now. At the time, fear and uncertainty were everywhere. The first thing we did, before anything else, was get on a company-wide town hall and tell everyone: no one is going to lose their job. That was non-negotiable for us. People were scared, not just about work, but about their lives – and we felt the best thing we could do was give our team a sense of stability.
Of course, to make that commitment work, we had to be smart. We made changes to things like variable compensation and aligned everyone globally around a single gross profit target for the year. It created a real sense of unity, which is one of our core values. And the team responded in an incredible way, people came together, collaborated more, and really showed what MiQ is made of. The results we saw in 2020 were just off the charts. It proved something we’ve always believed: when you look after your people, they’ll look after the business.
Another big challenge was expanding into the US market. Back in 2014, most of the traffic was going the other way – American companies coming into Europe. But we decided to do it differently. We brought our tech, which was built mostly on American platforms, back to the US. It wasn’t easy. It took two-and-a-half, maybe even three years before we saw real results. We had to localize, we had to be patient, and we came close to pulling the plug a few times. But we stuck it out, and now, the US is our biggest market.
5. What role does your company culture play in fostering innovation and creativity within MiQ?
Lee Puri: Ultimately, we’ve learned that success comes from perseverance, clarity of vision, and giving people the freedom to try and fail. Not every idea lands, and that’s okay. We want to be a company where it’s safe to take risks. That’s what keeps us innovative and evolving, even when the industry moves fast.
6. It seems like the Covid period was a transformative time for MiQ, particularly given how you made major internal commitments while also managing your recent expansion into India. How would you say navigating that period has impacted the way you run the company?
Lee Puri: COVID-19 was definitely a defining moment, not just in terms of how we looked after our people but also as a real validation of MiQ’s core strengths. Coming out of the pandemic, we saw a major shift in how clients approached media because suddenly, efficiency became everything. Brands and agencies were no longer looking for fragmented solutions or multiple vendors; they wanted to work with partners who could deliver smarter, faster, more integrated outcomes. And that played directly to our strengths. Our capabilities and our product solutions fit the moment. That led to accelerated growth because we were already where the market was headed.
Varun Mohan: From an India perspective, COVID-19 made our journey even more unique. We technically launched our India business in March 2020, just weeks before the first lockdown. Talk about timing, right? But what could have been a major setback actually became an opportunity. The leadership team in India received full backing from MiQ globally. There was no hesitation. No panic. We made it clear from day one that this wasn’t a short-term experiment, this was a strategic investment.
What ended up being an unexpected benefit is that because the entire market had paused, there were no events and no campaigns, senior decision-makers suddenly had time – CMOs, agency heads, and brand leaders were available to actually sit down with us (virtually, of course) and hear what MiQ was all about. What we thought would take six months, introducing ourselves to the market, we did in 40 days. By the time the market reopened in late May, we were ready. We launched our first campaign in India and haven’t looked back since.
Lee Puri: And here’s another story I always love telling: the India team didn’t even meet each other in person for almost two years. They were delivering huge campaigns, hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, without ever having been in the same room. When they finally met in December 2021, it was like, “Oh hey, you’re Varun!” That level of trust, resilience, and execution under pressure is what defines MiQ in the COVID-19 era.
7. What are MiQ’s strategic goals for India in 2025 and beyond? How does India fit into MiQ’s global growth strategy?
Varun Mohan: Over the last five years, the global focus on India has grown. Previously, global data platforms didn’t have deep insights into India. But today, India is one of the most strategic markets for global data management platforms (DMPs). This shift has made it clear that India is a key focus for MiQ, and our strategy is aligned with that global recognition.
We’re also seeing a significant evolution in how advertisers approach media. Traditionally, media plans in India were fragmented, with different line items for each publisher. Now, the focus is on a consolidated, programmatic approach. Advertisers are looking for platforms that can bring data-driven, outcome-focused solutions. Post-COVID-19, when the market reopened, there was a shift toward more cautious budgeting. Advertisers were careful about spending, but still sought visibility and results. This is where we stepped in to offer efficiency and value better than fragmented platforms which gave us an edge in the market.
Lee Puri: Our experience in the market has also shown us that India is one of the most intellectually curious markets we operate in. Brands and agencies here are eager to understand the inner workings of our campaigns, from data and strategies to specific outcomes. This transparency is central to our approach, offering a ‘white glove’ service where clients can dive into the details of campaign performance. This level of curiosity and desire to learn excites us because it aligns with our commitment to providing tailored, data-driven solutions and also builds trust with our clients.
A key decision for MiQ was launching our Center of Excellence in Bangalore in 2012 which was our first foothold in India. This was a pivotal moment for the company, and that decision continues to shape our success as it has helped us establish a strong presence in India. Moving forward, India will remain integral to MiQ’s global growth strategy as we continue to deepen our expertise in the market and cater to the growing demand for advanced marketing solutions.
8. What is the potential MiQ sees for the Connected TV ecosystem and its future in India?
Varun Mohan: We’ve been working on CTV since 2018 in the US, so when we brought this solution to India, we had the advantage of proven technology and expertise from more mature markets. But India is a unique market and is very distinct from other large markets due to its incredible diversity in language, culture, and consumption patterns. States like Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat each have very distinct consumer behaviors from each other. That’s why our approach in India had to be hyper-localized. When we launched our CTV solution in 2022, we focused on understanding these local nuances while leveraging our global tech capabilities.
It also comes at a time that India’s Connected TV ecosystem is poised for explosive growth. Currently, we reach 50 million households with connected devices, and in the next three years, we anticipate this number will double to 100 million, translating to a viewership of 350-400 million. The affordability of both smart TVs and mobile data in India makes them accessible to a wider audience, which enables more people to stream content seamlessly and thus drives CTV viewership. With the landscape evolving this rapidly, we are on track to see significant shifts in how content is consumed and thus there’s immense potential in this ecosystem.
9. What’s one big trend in adtech you think people are underestimating right now?
Lee Puri: One trend that brands and publishers are waking up to is the potential of leveraging their data to a greater degree to improve the customer experience they can create. Over the past few years, there’s been a growing realization, especially in markets like the US and India, that companies are sitting on a goldmine of data they can leverage for significant results and revenues. This shift is leading to more data entering the market, creating a frothy, fast-moving environment in digital advertising.
What makes this so exciting is that brands, when paired with the right partners, can properly segment and package their data to unlock massive value. The adtech industry is seeing a dramatic evolution, with programmatic now extending beyond just a simple banner ad on a website to include everything from digital audio to in-flight advertising.
As brands become more aware of the opportunities around data, we’re entering an era where how companies manage and leverage their data assets will drive much of the innovation and growth in the industry. The success stories we’re already seeing in the US are proof that this trend is global and just starting to hit its stride, particularly in dynamic markets like India.
Varun Mohan: From an India perspective, one trend that’s gaining traction is the shift from volume to quality in ad campaigns. Five years ago, India had around 300-350 million internet users, but today, that number has skyrocketed to over 820 million. With this vast audience, brands can no longer focus solely on driving impressions and clicks because they will simply be lost in the flood. Instead, they need to hone in on the right audience segments to ensure they’re targeting quality over quantity.
Marketers are starting to invest more in data measurement, and we’re seeing a shift in behavior as a result, and with the increase in data and internet access, there’s now a real focus on ensuring campaigns are reaching the right consumers with the right message. This change is creating huge potential for marketers to refine their strategies and get more out of their data investments.
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