Flipkart launches Leap Ahead and Leap Innovation Network startup programmes

Designed to cater to startup needs across stages, the two programmes will support enterprises through insights, mentorship and funding, and helping them scale and build disruptive innovations

E-commerce firm Flipkart announced the evolution of its flagship startup accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap, to identify wider and relevant market opportunities for its selected startups. After the successful completion of the first cohort of the programme, Flipkart Leap will now evolve into two new programmes - Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) and Flipkart Leap Innovation Network (FLIN). The Flipkart Leap launch coincides with National Startup Day, a day recognised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently to help startup culture spread better across India.

Designed to cater to the dynamic needs of startups across different stages, these two programmes--FLA and FLIN--will support the startups through insights, mentorship and funding as needed, while helping them scale and build disruptive innovations. With the introduction of these programs, the startup ecosystem will be able to access end-to-end partnerships with Flipkart across their growth stages.

“We are thrilled to bring innovative propositions back to the ecosystem to foster new-age startups. On the back of its early success, we are evolving Flipkart Leap and bringing relevant offerings that can support startups in the long run,” said Ravi Iyer, senior vice president and head - corporate development, Flipkart. “With dedicated tracks for early-stage and growth-stage startups, this cohort will now expand its benefits to a much wider pool of entrepreneurs who are solving for Digital India – be it meaningful partnerships and potential projects with Flipkart or equity investment that enables them to scale up further.”

The Flipkart Leap program graduated its first cohort in July 2021 with eight startups. They have gone on to successfully raise further funding/investment post their selection in the program.

Flipkart Leap Ahead will invest in seed-stage startups at the cutting edge of the latest technology across varied sectors, which have disruptive business models and are innovating in areas that are a priority for the Flipkart group. The program aims to identify startups across sectors with a broad focus on fintech, supply chain, logistics, SaaS (focused on consumer tech), alternate commerce, B2B, social, healthtech, agritech and edtech.

The selected startups will be able to participate in a mentorship program encompassing benefits such as 1:1 connects with experienced Flipkart leaders, customized curriculum and workshops run by Flipkart experts, prominent investors, and industry specialists. In addition, they will receive an equity investment from Flipkart ranging between $150,000 - $500,000 as well as ecosystem connections, co-developing products and strategies.

The Flipkart Leap Ahead program will be the cornerstone of seed-stage investments made by Flipkart Ventures, the $100 million venture fund announced earlier last year by Flipkart.

The Flipkart Leap Innovation Network program has been designed to enable a broader set of start-ups to engage with Flipkart’s product and tech teams. The Flipkart Leap Innovation Network will look at a wider pool of mature startups that have a viable product that solves problems across themes. These include rethinking the supply chain, building retail tech, accelerating digital commerce, the future of fashion, and redefining customer experience. A select set of startups will also get the opportunity to execute pilots and forge commercial partnerships with Flipkart.

“We want to identify and work with businesses that are building relevant solutions to India-specific e-commerce problems and get more customers to benefit from e-commerce,” said Jeyandran Venugopal, chief product and technology officer, Flipkart. “ In our journey to reach the next 200 million customers, we will look out for start-ups that have innovative solutions that cater to the dynamic needs of our country and help them scale their vision with us.”

The startups in FLIN will be able to participate in various topical workshops with Flipkart and industry experts, to help them build robust solutions with product-market fit for the e-commerce industry. In addition, the startups in this exclusive network will benefit from peer-to-peer learning from the community of entrepreneurs.