Bristlecone’s 24% growth fuels push beyond consulting towards billion-dollar valuation

Mahindra Group’s supply chain services arm is expanding into AI, analytics and product engineering as it targets faster growth, more Fortune 1000 customers and a billion-dollar valuation.

Bristlecone, the Mahindra Group’s supply chain services arm, has posted 24% year-on-year topline growth as it pushes towards what its leadership hopes will become a billion-dollar valuation. The company is trying to position itself as more than a traditional consulting shop, with managing director and chief executive Lakshmanan Chidambaram saying it is widening its offering while keeping supply chain work at the core.

According to the company and a recent report by Rediff.com, Bristlecone has launched “Project Unicorn” as part of a broader effort to scale up the business, while also expanding its sales organisation and attracting new customers. Chidambaram said the company has added 15 new Fortune 1000 logos and believes the changes are already feeding through into performance, even as the firm keeps a close eye on longer-term value creation.

The business is now focused on four main segments: high technology, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, and life sciences. Bristlecone says the US remains its largest market, followed by Europe and India, and it has broadened its capabilities from ERP-led supply chain work into data analytics, artificial intelligence and product engineering. The company is also investing heavily in assets, frameworks and intellectual property that it hopes will shorten implementation times for customers and make more of its revenue less dependent on billable headcount.

Chidambaram, who took charge in July 2025 after a long career in technology services, has cast AI as both a revenue driver and a way to build credibility with clients. He said such projects are often smaller than major SAP deployments, but can still establish Bristlecone as a thought leader and open the door to more business later. The company expects AI-related work to account for about 10% to 12% of topline, while most of the growth momentum is expected to come from high-tech clients, especially as demand linked to data centres and semiconductors continues to rise.

Beyond external market opportunities, Bristlecone is also promoting its internal execution credentials. Chidambaram said the company used AI, augmented reality, virtual reality and computer vision across thousands of machines at a Mahindra Group plant in Pune, helping lift uptime to 99.99% and cut energy use by 30%. He said the wider geopolitical climate and other disruptions are making supply chains more unpredictable, which is increasing demand for tools and expertise that can make them more resilient and easier to manage.

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Source: Fuse Wire Services