Mumbai: Komerz, the AI-powered platform stitching together commerce, marketing, data and distribution, has poached one of the industry’s most seasoned number-crunchers. Shahid Sadiq, until recently global chief financial officer at WPP Specialist Communications and PR, joins as group chief financial officer just as the company steps up its global expansion and acquisition spree.
Sadiq is a chartered accountant with two decades in marketing communications behind him. Before WPP, he was chief financial officer and then chief operating officer, EMEA, at Geometry Global, and regional chief financial officer for McCann Worldgroup EMEA. He has also sat on listed and private company boards, both as advisor and non-executive director.
At Komerz, his brief is broad: group finance, capital allocation, investment strategy, fundraising, governance, performance management and investor relations, all as the company scales across its four global hubs. Founded in the UK in 2023, Komerz is currently mid-way through a growth financing round valuing the business at £500 million, and has been on something of an acquisition tear, snapping up haircare brand NOUGHTY, Great Wines Direct, American measurement firm Pathformance Technologies and consultancy Glassbox.
All of it plugs into the Komerz Operating System, an AI-powered platform that promises to handle everything from consumer targeting and demand forecasting to retail planning and performance management, in theory letting brands scale with more precision and less friction.
Ramesh Krishnamurthy, chief executive of Komerz, called the hire a significant milestone, pointing to Sadiq’s experience running complex international operations as exactly what the next stage of growth demands. Siddharth Shankar, chief operating officer, said Sadiq’s financial and operational chops would help the company integrate its acquisitions and keep building what he called a category-defining business.
Sadiq himself did not undersell the moment, describing Komerz as a highly differentiated platform sitting at the intersection of commerce, distribution, AI and performance-led growth, with disciplined investment and strategic acquisitions high on his to-do list.
With the funding round live and the acquisition trail still warm, Komerz is wagering that Sadiq’s spreadsheets will keep pace with its ambition. The books, and the deals, are now his to balance.
