Flipkart is one of the biggest firms in India without a shred of doubt, and as it is nearing an IPO, it is ready to help other, more emerging startups by paving the way for an excellent future. Today, the Walmart owned e-commerce firm has announced a new programme termed ‘Flipkart Boost’, in a bid to help D2C (direct to consumer) companies and help them with a service model.
The programme will allow companies to make use of Flipkart’s years of expertise to charter exceptional growth rates in a highly up and coming sector. This will include end-to-end support covering planning, advertising, cataloguing, logistics, quality control and mentoring to emerging ‘Made in India’ brands, the company said.
Selected companies will be able to expand their digital visibility, with help of Flipkart’s expertise across functions using value-driven business insights. That’s not all, as startups will also be able to penetrate into more geographies thanks to Flipkart’s extensive network across the country, providing an unprecedented growth to those that get selected.
Coming on to selection, Flipkart has said that 100 companies will be selected for the programme this year, which will be shortlisted on certain criteria like growth potential, sustainable revenue run rate, focus on quality, commitment to building a long-lasting brand, strong product mix and customer orientation.
Moreover, it will also open up opportunities to avail capital from venture capital firms, including the likes of A91 Partners, DSG Consumer Partners, Fireside Ventures, Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Stellaris Venture Partners.
Flipkart has already been running this programme with several brands (including Delight Foods and beauty products company Pilgrim) and aims to support budding companies that are working in this growing customer-focused market.
“The growing popularity of digital-first brands driven by a focus on specific customer needs demonstrates immense market potential,” said Ravi Iyer, senior vice president and head of corporate development at Flipkart.
“With the Flipkart Boost programme, we aim to build and nurture these growing customer-focused businesses by providing them relevant mentoring that covers access to a network of investors, market intelligence, scalability programmes, and marketing engagements,” he said.
