Flipkart's venture sector to invest in six startups
Flipkart Ventures, the $100-million venture capital arm of the ecommerce company, said it will be investing in six startups under its accelerator programme - Flipkart Leap Ahead.
These startups include a metaverse-focussed startup Dopplr, insurtech firm Livwell, logistics startup LogisticsNow, NeuroPixel.AI, robotic fulfillment startup Rightbot Technologies, and ecommerce seller-enablement venture Sellerapp.
The selected startups will receive an equity investment of up to $500,000 from Flipkart and a mentorship programme designed by Bain & Company.
Under the mentorship programme, the startups will get sessions with Flipkart leaders across various functions such as business, product, technology, and finance, the company said. At the end of the programme, the startups will present their ideas to potential investors.
The startups were selected following a selection process that involved multiple rounds of evaluation by executives at Flipkart and Flipkart Ventures.
“Through this endeavour, we aim to be a catalyst in the growing startup community by continuing to expand our programme each year and presenting growth opportunities to emerging entrepreneurs,” said Ravi Iyer, senior vice-president, and head, corporate development at Flipkart.
The Flipkart Leap Ahead programme saw its first cohort graduate in July 2021, with eight startups that pitched their ideas to investors and raised funding. The cohort included seller ecommerce SaaS firm ANS Commerce, AI startup Entropik Tech, and investment-focussed fintech firm Piggy, among others.
Later, Flipkart acquired ANS Commerce in April this year.
Like Flipkart, Amazon, too, has its venture capital arm called Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund with a corpus of $250 million. It invests in startups working on digitising small and medium businesses (SMBs), and those innovating in agriculture and healthcare.
Amazon has invested in several startups, including $40 million in fintech company Smallcase in August 2021, and recently in digital therapeutic startup Fitterfly as a part of its $12-million funding round.
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