Walmart-owned Flipkart, which had announced the launch of its startup accelerator Flipkart Leap in August 2020, is now prepared to mentor and help the very first batch of eight startups. These startups work across 5 locations viz., Design & Make for India innovations in digital commerce technologies to empower retail provide chain management and logistics, and enabling deeptech applications. The eight startups are e-commerce enabler ANS Commerce, emotion intelligence SaaS business Entropik Tech, apparel manufacturing marketplace Fashinza, tech-enabled network of mid-size grocery retailers Gully Network, private finance hub for customer Piggy, provide chain monitoring answer provider Tagbox Solutions, parcel sorting robotic method Unbox Robotics, and IoT platform for precision agriculture Wolkus Technology.
The very first cohort will undergo a 16-week mentorship programme that will offer you one particular-on-one particular company and technical mentorship, masterclasses, and networking sessions focused on venture improvement along with assisting them discover partnership possibilities with relevant company units at Flipkart, the business stated in a statement. The chosen startups will also get an equity-cost-free grant of $25,000 every. “With Flipkart Leap, we aim to nurture promising startups and help them create compelling solutions for customers and bring value to the industry,” stated Naren Ravula, VP, Product Strategy and Deployment, Flipkart.
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Flipkart’s accelerator programme is yet another startup engagement initiative by the business following it launched the venture fund for startups in March 2019. The business had invested in loyalty programme marketplace EasyRewardz in its series B funding as nicely by way of the fund. With a venture fund and accelerator programme, Flipkart has now been component of the developing tribe of top rated corporates in India such as Reliance, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Amity, Intel, Oracle, Target, Yes Bank, and so forth. supporting startups with incubation and accelerator services. The trend of huge corporations supporting startups, nevertheless, is not new at all in the worldwide startup ecosystem and has been current in the kind of venture capital arms, household workplace, incubator/accelerator vertical, or investment on a standalone basis.
The improvement at Flipkart came days following the business had rejigged its board to have Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy along with HDFC’s Vice Chairman and CEO Keki Mistry, Walmart’s Global Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kumar, and Walmart International’s Executive Vice President of International Strategy and Development Leigh Hopkins to its board ahead of the planned IPO this year or early 2022.