Flipkart’s Accelerator Program To Invest $500K In Six Early-Stage Tech Startups

Flipkart Ventures, an investment arm of ecommerce giant Flipkart is going to invest $500K in six startups as part of its accelerator program called Flipkart Leap Ahead.

Through the accelerator program, Flipkart aims to provide mentorship and guidance to early-stage startups to grow, scale, and build innovations for the country.

As a part of the program, the selected startups will undergo a 16-week mentorship program that has been designed by Bain & Company.

“With Flipkart Leap Ahead, we want to support startups in scaling their businesses and build solutions to solve problems in the consumer internet and tech ecosystem. Through this, we strive to be a catalyst in the growing startup community by continuing to expand our program each year and presenting growth opportunities to emerging entrepreneurs,” said Ravi Iyer, senior vice president and head of corporate development at Flipkart Ventures.

The 16-week program will include daily mentor connect sessions with Flipkart leaders across divisions including business, product, technology, and finance. At the end of the program, which is called Demo Day, the startups will present their ideas to investors and industry leaders. 

The six shortlisted startups for the accelerator program are metaverse startup Dopplr, blockchain-based insurtech startup Livwell, B2B logistic startup LogisticsNow, deeptech startup NeuroPixel.AI, full stack robotic startup Rightbot Technologies, and seller-centric intelligence startup SellerApp.

According to Flipkart, the six startups are building a wide range of solutions including a metaverse with virtual stores, robotic supply chain solutions, AI-led fashion cataloging, data analytics-based business optimisation and freight intelligence, among others to elevate customer and seller experiences.

The latest development comes at a time when Flipkart is facing the wrath of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for selling sub-standard culinary utensils. As a result, CCPA penalised the ecommerce giant with an INR 1 Lakh fine.

Yesterday, chief commissioner of CCPA, Nidhi Khare ordered Flipkart to order back all 598 sub-standard pressure cookers that were sold on its website and notify all distressed customers. 

Besides, Flipkart has also been under the Centre’s radar for some time now. Industry bodies such as CAIT asked the government to take action against the ecommerce player for using deep pricing practices and anti-competitive behavior. 

In Addition to that, the regulatory body CCI was reported to be examining Flipkart’s documents to understand financial dealings between ecommerce platform and its sellers in May this year. 

On the other hand, Flipkart’s backer Walmart lately reported that its global advertising business grew by 30%  in the July quarter 2022, on the back of strong performances by its American advertising subsidiary and Flipkart. 

In a quarterly report, Walmart said, “Global advertising business grew nearly 30%, led by Walmart Connect in the US and Flipkart advertising.”