WillItSurvive
Consumer internet and adtech companies · India

CleverTap

clevertap.com ↗

CleverTap runs a customer engagement and retention platform for mobile apps.

Losing its protection
Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026
The structural protection is eroding.
On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from Q4 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: FY25 India revenue filing and any new funding or M&A announcement
The call

CleverTap keeps its customers and stays profitable, but growth has stalled and better-funded rivals like Braze are closing the gap.

CleverTap sells software that helps companies send personalized messages to their customers through email, push notifications, and in-app alerts. It is profitable and has real paying customers, but the core technology is not hard for competitors to build or copy: Braze and MoEngage do almost the same thing and have more money and momentum. CleverTap's growth has dropped from 46% to just 6-9% per year, it has not raised new funding in four years, and its value has fallen by half, suggesting the company is stuck. The one thing that could change this picture is whether a big tech company like Salesforce or Adobe builds the same features into their own products and convinces CleverTap's customers to switch, or whether CleverTap can stabilize after acquiring Leanplum and find new growth in India.

Why
01
AI pressure: Braze AI, MoEngage, and agentic features from Salesforce/Adobe. Rivals ship AI-driven personalization fast; CleverTap has to match feature-for-feature or lose deals on capability alone. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud. Enterprise sales friction keeps them out for now, but both are adding retention features that creep into CleverTap's turf. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. 2,000+ paying brands with deep data and workflow integration make switching costly, even if growth has stalled.
What would change this call
CleverTap announces a new funding round or reports one at lower valuation than 2022's $775 to 800M. Would show whether investors still back growth or are marking it down further.
FY25 India annual filing shows revenue growth rate versus prior 6 to 9% YoY figure. Would confirm whether the growth slowdown is stabilizing or worsening.
Gartner or G2 quarterly rankings show CleverTap losing Leader/top-tier position to Braze or MoEngage. Would indicate analysts see market share or product parity shifting away from CleverTap.
Key numbers
  • Revenue growth fell to 6-9% YoY from ~46% (FY24)
  • No new funding round in 48 months since Series D (2026-06)
  • Secondary valuation down ~62% to ~$300M (2026-07)
Named risks
  • No new equity round in 48 months and secondary market valuation down 62% to about 300 million dollars as of July 2026. Severity: high
  • Revenue growth collapsed from about 46% YoY in FY23 to 6.3 to 8.6% in FY24. Severity: high
  • Leanplum integration fallout: 2025 layoffs of 100 to 120 staff and liquidation of Leanplum Bulgaria entity. Severity: medium
  • Moat (SDK embedding, behavioral data) is shared with Braze and MoEngage, not distinctive, under pricing pressure. Severity: medium
  • Conflicting financial figures across sources create uncertainty about true revenue and headcount trajectory. Severity: low
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
Brazelosing toBetter capitalized direct peer with feature parity or lead, contesting same enterprise accounts as of 2026
MoEngagelosing toUndercutting CleverTap on price in APAC and LatAm markets, frequently compared head to head in 2026 vendor content
WebEngage and Insiderlosing toRegional mid-market rivals undercutting on price in APAC, LatAm, and MEA as of 2026
Salesforce Marketing CloudcontestingEnterprise incumbent pushing agentic AI features that could displace CleverTap accounts, not yet a direct blocker as of 2026
Adobe Experience CloudcontestingAdjacent enterprise alternative encroaching on CleverTap's segment via Adobe Experience Cloud, per 2026 vendor comparisons
Questions people ask
Is CleverTap profitable in 2026?
Yes, but shrinking. CleverTap's India entity reported profit after tax of about 30.4 crore rupees in FY24, down from 52.22 crore rupees in FY22, per Registrar of Companies filings reported July 21, 2025 by Livemint.
Has CleverTap raised new funding recently?
No. CleverTap's last disclosed round was a 105 million dollar Series D led by CDPQ in August 2022. As of June 2026, trackers note it has been about 48 months since that raise with no new equity round publicly disclosed.
What is CleverTap's valuation now?
CleverTap's last priced round in August 2022 valued it around 775 to 800 million dollars. A secondary market estimate from July 2026 implies a valuation of roughly 300 million dollars, a decline of about 62 percent.
Did CleverTap have layoffs?
Yes. In 2025, CleverTap laid off 60 to 70 former Leanplum employees and 40 to 50 CleverTap India employees, and liquidated the Bulgaria based Leanplum entity, per Livemint reporting dated July 21, 2025.
Who is CleverTap's biggest competitor?
Braze is CleverTap's most direct, better capitalized rival, with MoEngage, WebEngage, and Insider undercutting on price in APAC, LatAm, and MEA. Enterprise incumbents Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud also loom as adjacent alternatives.
Could AI replace CleverTap?
AI threatens CleverTap's segmentation, content generation, and decisioning layer, which overlaps with generic AI and ad platform tools. But its proprietary TesseractDB behavioral data and embedded SDK footprint in thousands of apps are harder for AI alone to replicate as of 2026.
Timeline
  • 2026-02-06CleverTap upgraded from Niche Player to Leader in Gartner MQ for Personalization Engines
  • 2025-07-21Livemint reports Leanplum buyout layoffs, top exec exits, three years post acquisition
  • 2025-04CleverTap acquires YC-backed loyalty startup rehook.ai for undisclosed sum
  • 2025Layoffs of 100 to 120 staff; Leanplum Bulgaria entity liquidated
  • 2024-11Reports surface of possible HQ relocation talks from San Francisco to India
  • 2024-07CEO Sidharth Malik steps down; co-founder Sunil Thomas resumes as CEO
  • 2024-05-02CleverTap launches Clever.AI decisioning engine
  • 2022-08Series D closes at 105 million dollars led by CDPQ, valuation around 775 to 800 million dollars
  • 2019-10Series C closes at 35 million dollars, valuation around 385 million dollars
  • 2019-04Series B closes at 26 million dollars, valuation over 150 million dollars
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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