Wondrlab in talks to acquire Madison World

Mar-tech network Wondrlab is in talks to acquire the advertising agency Madison World, as per media reports.

In a statement shared with the Social Samosa, Saurabh Varma, Founder and CEO of Wondrlab Network, said the agency is evaluating acquisition opportunities but did not confirm a specific deal.

“We have consistently stated that Wondrlab is building for scale, and acquisitions remain an important part of that strategy. We are actively evaluating opportunities and are in discussions with multiple companies across capabilities that strengthen our platform-first, full-funnel marketing and technology offering. Any development will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Varma said.

Wondrlab has pursued acquisitions as part of a plan to buy 26 agencies in three phases. In 2025, it completed its seventh acquisition.

According to the reports, Madison founder Sam Balsara is seeking about Rs 1,000 crore for the agency. If the Wondrlab transaction proceeds, it would mark the largest acquisition of an Indian agency by another Indian agency.

Wondrlab was launched in November 2020 by Saurabh Varma, Vandana Verma, and Rakesh Hinduja. Its first acquisition came in December 2020 with the purchase of Amit Akali’s creative agency, What’s Your Problem (WYP).

Since then, the agency has acquired influencer marketing firm Opportune and performance marketing agency Neon in 2022. In 2023, it bought Salesforce consultancy and data analytics firm Cymetrix and Poland-based agency WebTalk, marking its entry into Europe.

It later acquired influencer marketing agency OPA and, last year, took a majority stake in BigStep Technologies, a generative AI and cloud-native custom software solutions company.

Madison has attracted interest from several global advertising groups over the years, including WPP, Publicis, and Dentsu. In May 2025, Havas was reported to be the frontrunner with an offer of about Rs 700 crore for a majority stake.

Earlier discussions with WPP in 2015, when Madison was valued at around Rs 500 crore, did not result in a deal due to valuation and equity differences. Talks with Publicis and Dentsu also did not materialise.