Flipkart Invites Applications for Cohort of Flipkart Leap Ahead and Flipkart Leap Innovation Network

In ongoing efforts to boost India's startup ecosystem, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, under its accelerator program - Flipkart Leap, has now opened applications for the second cohort. The program will invite applications under Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) and Flipkart Leap Innovation Network (FLIN) to support early-stage startups with the potential to disrupt the digital ecosystem.

Both these programs, FLA and FLIN, are tailored to suit the needs of startups across their growth journey, supporting them through insights, mentorship and funding as needed. While Flipkart Leap Ahead will provide equity-based investments into startups across varied sectors, Flipkart Leap Innovation Network will enable companies to enter into commercial partnerships with Flipkart’s technology teams. The applications for the second cohort of FLA and FLIN will be open from November 24, 2022 until January 10, 2023.

Ravi Iyer, Senior Vice President and Head - Corporate Development, Flipkart, said, “At Flipkart, we have continuously invested in India's dynamic and vibrant startup ecosystem through a host of programs. The second cohorts of Flipkart Leap Ahead and the Flipkart Leap Innovation Network will carry this torch ahead with investments and partnerships respectively into young startups. We are excited to work towards fueling new business models and fostering a culture of innovation to build the next generation of tech talent and solve real-world India-specific problems.”

Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA)

Flipkart Leap Ahead is designed to provide equity based funding and growth acceleration to early stage startups which have the potential to advance the digital ecosystem in India. This program is the cornerstone of seed-stage investments made by Flipkart Ventures, the $100M venture fund announced by Flipkart. The accelerator will invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups, with a cheque size of upto $500K.

In addition, to boost the growth of these startups, they will undergo a 60 day program designed to set them up for rapid scaling and growth. The startups will also be mentored by senior business, operations, product and tech leaders in Flipkart to help them leverage our collective expertise and connects.

Startups building the next big thing across areas such as Logistics, Supply chain, Sustainability, Fintech, Healthtech, Gaming, Edtech, Consumer Tech, Web3 can apply.

The first cohort of FLA included 6 startups - Dopplr, Livwell, LogisticsNow, Neuropixel.AI, Rightbot Technologies and SellerApp - building innovative products across Consumer Tech, Logistics, Automation, Insurtech and Metaverse sectors. In addition to investment, the cohort

was offered a customized curriculum designed by Bain & Co, several curated sessions from industry leaders, and will be concluded in January 2023 with a demo day.

Flipkart Leap Innovation Network (FLIN)

The Flipkart Leap Innovation Network is designed to engage with startups through commercial partnerships in Flipkart’s areas of interest. Here, Flipkart will look at a wider pool of startups that already have viable offerings. The selected startups will deploy their solutions via paid pilots on Flipkart, and if successful - will have the opportunity to scale up to a business partnership.

Startups that are solving for the Indian e-commerce ecosystem by building innovative solutions and are redefining the e-commerce landscape in areas of core shopping experience, seller enablement, supply chain innovations, tech infrastructure or the future of commerce can apply.

The eight startups from the first cohort: Ashield, BigThinx, Datacultr, ElixiaTech, Intelliwings, Linksmart, TryNDBuy and Vitra.ai - have kicked off pilots working closely with the Flipkart Product and Engineering teams. A few have already emerged successful and are in the process of scaling up their offerings across Flipkart. These deployments will delight customers by providing a seamless shopping and payment experience, introduce new age commerce constructs and lower costs through a more efficient supply chain.