"My experience is that for every dollar of AI spend, you need $10 of engineering spend to make it work." While the world is laser-focused on data science, there is a HUGE opportunity to upskill and invest in the data engineering aspect. This is just one excerpt from our exclusive interview with Srikanth Velamakanni, Group Chief Executive & Vice-Chairman at Fractal. Srikanth co-founded Fractal Analytics in 2000, well before analytics and AI were entire industries. He served as CEO of Fractal Analytics from 2006 to 2016.

MUMBAI: Private equity firm Apax Partners has signed a definitive agreement to invest as much as $200 million to become the single largest shareholder in Fractal Analytics, India's second largest big data firm. The transaction, which consists of a secondary stake acquired from existing shareholders such as Malayasian sovereign investor of Khazanah and T.A. Associates besides a primary investment into the business, both the companies said in a statement. Though not disclosed, sources tell ET, Apax will end up with a significant minority stake of around 45%. The deal is expected to get closed by February 2019, the statement said. ET first reported about the potential transaction in its edition dated Jan 4. The company will use the investment by the Apax Funds to accelerate growth, both organically and through M&A, and to invest further in AI products and research.