Flipkart Ventures to invest in six early-stage startups

Flipkart Ventures, the $100M venture fund set up by Walmart-owned Flipkart, today announced that it will be investing in six startups as part of its Flipkart Leap Ahead accelerator programme.

The six startups include metaverse platform Dopplr, insurtech firm Livwell, logistics solutions provider LogisticsNow, deeptech startup Neuropixel.AI, robotics automation platform Rightbot Technologies, and seller insights startup Sellerapp.

These startups were selected after multiple rounds of evaluation based on objective criteria, by a board of cross functional leaders at Flipkart and the Flipkart Ventures team, the homegrown e-commerce marketplace says in a statement.

The programme aims to provide early-stage startups with mentorship and guidance to grow, scale, and build disruptive innovations that solve for Digital India.

The six startups will receive an equity investment of up to $500,000 from Flipkart and will undergo a mentorship programme delivered through a customised curriculum, which has been designed by Bain & Company. This includes regular mentor connect sessions with Flipkart leaders across various functions including business, product, technology, and finance.

At the end of the programme, the startups will be able to present their ideas, fine-tuned over the course of the 16-week mentorship training, to potential investors and industry leaders on a Demo Day.

Flipkart said its Leap Ahead programme has been conceptualised to support early-stage startups which have the potential to disrupt the digital ecosystem and aid their growth through structured mentorship and funding.

The six startups are building capabilities across a wide array of solutions, each catering to a unique problem statement and the present needs of consumers and sellers online. This includes a metaverse with virtual stores, robotic supply chain solutions, AI-powered fashion cataloging, data analytics-powered business optimisation, data-based freight intelligence, and more that can help elevate customer and seller experiences.

“Furthering our commitment to fostering India’s entrepreneur ecosystem, with Flipkart Leap Ahead we want to support startups to scale up their businesses and build relevant solutions to solve complex problems in consumer internet and technology ecosystem. Through this endeavor, 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. We are thrilled to invest in and mentor the six selected startups possessing unique ideas, disruptive business models and new innovative technologies,” says Ravi Iyer, senior vice-president and head of Corporate Development at Flipkart.

The Flipkart Leap Ahead programme graduated its first cohort in July 2021 with eight startups that successfully pitched their ideas to investors and raised further funding.