Agritech to robotics: startups display innovation at Flipkart Leap Demo Day

Finalists of the Flipkart Leap programme, including startups from retail tech, robotics, agri- tech and fintech space, showcased their offerings to potential investors and industry leaders

Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart hosted a Demo Day for its first Cohort of flagship accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap. Through this platform, the finalists of the programme presented their ideas, which evolved over the course of the 16-week mentorship training, to potential investors and industry leaders. Flipkart’s Demo Day had over 900 attendees from across the globe including investors, industry leaders and varied talent from the startup ecosystem, making it one of the most successful ‘Demo Days’ in the country. The audience included attendees from over 15 countries, including the United States, UK, UAE, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

“We believe in nurturing new, disruptive ideas that create value for the digital transformation of India,” said Jeyandran Venugopal, chief product and technology officer, Flipkart. “Tech innovation and digital transformation have become even more important in the last year. India has no dearth of good ideas; the challenge is to identify promising innovators, help them develop their ideas further, and give them a platform for presenting their ideas to potential investors.”

The startups, shortlisted from close to a thousand applicants, comprised eight technology enterprises in sectors such as retail tech, robotics, agritech and fintech. As part of the programme, the firms were given access to world-class technical and business mentorship, tools, technology and business support services, as well as connect with the relevant investors in the industry. Each startup was mapped with senior leaders from Flipkart based on the industry in order to fulfil the gaps in the startups’ journey. In addition, Flipkart also partnered with leading technology companies such as Google and Microsoft to provide its cohort with ‘startup credits’ and relevant workshops that can boost their growth. The Demo Day now marks the beginning of their journey towards scaling their offerings and attracting potential investments.

Tech innovation and nurturing disruptive ideas will continue to be leading factors in the new normal. Being a homegrown platform, Flipkart said that through its accelerator program, Flipkart Leap, is utilizing its reach to nurture and boost the ideas that have the potential to revolutionize the retail and technology space. Flipkart is already gearing up to invite the applications for its second cohort of the program and will soon be revealing the new program structure and offerings.