SUMMARY
To date, 36 startups have graduated from the Target programme
The selected startups will have access to the retail giant's mentors, tools, resources and more
The 10 selected startups include Entropik, Intello Labs etc
US-based retail giant Target has announced the seventh cohort of the ‘Target Accelerator Program’ in India. The cohort is made up of startups in logistics (supply chain, inventory placement, vendor management), marketing (ad technology, merchandising, product design) and sustainability. The selected startups are Unifiz, Entropik, Blubirch, Unreal AI, SprintAI, TrashCon, Stylumia, Intello Labs, Kenscio and Flixstock.
Set up in 2005, Target in India has more than 3,000 team members engaged in work that supports Target’s global strategy across business areas such as technology, marketing, human resources, finance, merchandising, supply chain, property development, analytics and reporting.
The company introduced the Target Accelerator Program in 2013, which gives startups a platform to develop, scale and test their products in a live retail environment, while also accessing Target mentors in India and the US.
To date, 36 startups have graduated from the programme and have worked with Target teams across stores, marketing, finance, legal, merchandising, mobile and digital. Some of the startups that have graduated in the past include StylDod, Moodboard, Jumper.AI among others.
The four-month programme gives startups a chance to focus on leveraging technology to create solutions for the retail environment and enhance the shopping experiences of Target guests in stores and online.
Startups Selected For The “Target Accelerator Program”
The selected startups will have access to Target mentors, tools, resources and operational support – as well as workspace at Target’s office in Bengaluru. The startups will use emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing and analytics.
Tammy Redpath, senior vice president and president, Target in India, said,“Every new batch brings new possibilities and opportunities to develop and scale solutions in the global retail setting. This batch is diverse in their capabilities influencing multiple areas of the business.”
Here are the selected 10 startups:
Unifize
Founders: Lakshman Thatai and Ben Merton
Founded in: 2016
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: Unifize builds cloud-based technology that enables sales teams at manufacturing and engineering organisations to measure and reduce time and errors in their communication processes
Entropik
Founders: Bharat Singh Shekhawat and Ranjan Kumar
Founded in: 2016
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: The company makes software that helps app developers track the emotions and context of their users on the basis of data from their smartphone or wearable’s accelerometer and pressure sensor
Blubirch
Founders: 2014
Founded in: Sapan Jain
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: Blubirch offers end to end reverse logistics solution to maximize recovery from returned, unsold and unused technology assets for retailers, OEMs/ODMs and enterprises.
Unreal AI
Founders: Nishchal Gaba and Saurabh Singh
Founded in: 2018
Based in: Delhi
Purpose: Unreal AI’s product Vizor ID is an easy to install security device that uses face recognition to authenticate employees at locations such as offices and schools
SprintAI
Founders: Ankit Jain and Anurag Bhatt
Founded in: 2018
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: SprintAI is an enterprise AI company building system of intelligence for the retail industry. Its products are used by leading brands and retailers to take decisions around the entire Planning & Buying, Merchandising & Inventory Management and Fulfillment functions of their businesses.
TrashCon
Founders: Nivedha RM
Founded in: 2017
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: TrashCon’s product TrashBot segregates mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) (containing food waste, plastics, cardboard, meat, blood, diapers, sanitary napkins etc.) into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components upto an efficiency of 99.6% using its patented technology.
Stylumia
Founders: Ganesh Subramanian
Founded in: 2015
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: Stylumia provides actionable intelligence from structured and unstructured consumer data sourced from the web and directly from consumers, which fashion decision makers can use to come up with styles that customers love in shorter cycle times.
Intello Labs
Founders: Milan Sharma, Nishant Mishra, Himani Shah and Devendra Chandani
Founded in: 2016
Based in: Gurugram
Purpose: Intello Labs is leveraging artificial intelligence to build a platform for grading and quality monitoring of agricultural commodity. Intello’s AI uses a photo of the commodity sample to generate instantaneous quality metrics.
Flixstock
Founders: Ajay Khandelwal and Harindar Keer
Founded in: 2012
Based in: Gurugram
Purpose: Flixstock provides technology and services to streamline the process of shooting On-Model ecommerce imagery for the fashion and apparel industry
Kenscio
Founders: Manjunatha KG and Saurav Patnaik
Founded in: 2009
Based in: Bengaluru
Purpose: Kenscio offers host of solutions to businesses, such as email marketing solutions and services, social media marketing, media services, real time email personalisation, email list cleansing, multi-channel marketing intelligence and analytics.
