Flipkart’s innovation journey, from within and outside

Good morning!

The Indian ecommerce industry is expected to cross $100 billion in the next three to four years from the current $30 billion. This growth will need constant innovation driven largely by technology and innovation. 

And, Flipkart — India’s leading ecommerce marketplace — is driving innovation both from within the company and collaborating with outside players as it seeks to implement new ideas. 

Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Flipkart, says, “Innovation quotients can be blunted if one starts focusing only on delivering on things they already know. We want to change that.” 

The company has created several structured programmes to help unleash creativity without the fear of failure, including Project 1K, Hackday, SlashN, Flipkart Grid, Wired, Trail Blazer, Girls Wanna Code, etc.

For Flipkart, perhaps the most important step taken to raise the level of innovation, especially in its engagement with the startup ecosystem, was its Leap programme, launched in August 2020. 

The startup accelerator programme helps selected startups undergo a 16-week mentorship with an equity-free grant of $25,000. 

Jeyandran says, “To improve digital commerce in India it was imperative on our part to do this. Based on the response of our first cohort, we have been inspired for the next.”

The Interview

India’s tryst with the internet can be traced back to the 90s when VSNL first brought it to the country on August 15, 1995. More than two-and-a-half decades since, it has changed the face of the Indian economy, the way we do business, and the social sector. 

In a conversation, Anil Kumar Jain, CEO, National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), speaks about the organisation's vision to provide a domain name to each Indian just like an Aadhaar card and how it is vigorously promoting the adoption of IPv6.

Editor’s Pick: 100X Entrepreneur podcast

Mitesh Shah, Co-founder, Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), says his learnings and experience from his job as the Chief Financial Officer at Ola, and the Head of Finance at BookMyShow, helped him become an angel investor. 

In 2018, Mitesh, along with Vinay Bansal and Ankur Mittal, co-founded Inflection Point Ventures. In this episode of the 100X Entrepreneur podcast, he talks about his experience at Ola and BookMyShow, why early-stage founders require the most handholding post the investment, and more. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Why this cancer survivor decided to start a wellness brand

Close to 12 years ago, Radhika Iyer Talati was diagnosed with first-stage breast cancer, followed by uterine cancer. While she followed the regular route of allopathic medicines and treatment, she also tried finding alternative therapies to change her lifestyle to cope with her cancer treatment. In 2019, after she realised a growing demand among people for an organic and sustainable lifestyle, she decided to start a food-based startup called Anahata. Read more.

News & Updates

• After Flipkart, Infosys, and Swiggy among others, Grofers said it would cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for its employees, their family members, and the company's contractual staff — 25,000 people across 38 cities.

• Amazon Technologies Inc has acquired Perpule, a Bengaluru-headquartered retail tech startup, for Rs 107.60 crore. As part of this transaction, Amazon has acquired Perpule's point-of-sale IP asset called Ultra POS.

• Pfizer announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and generates a strong immune response in kids as young as 12. Currently, Pfizer's vaccine is authorised for ages 16 and older.

• Microsoft Corp said it has helped over 30 million people across 249 countries and territories gain access to digital skills, including close to three million people from India. The company will also help 250,000 companies globally make skills-based hires in 2021.

• India has emerged as the biggest recipient of foreign portfolio investments this fiscal with net inflows worth Rs 2.6 lakh crore. Previously, the highest inflow of Rs 1.4 lakh crore into the equities space was witnessed in the financial year 2012-13.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Innovation is always about something new and is also risky. We do not want people to do only safe things. There is still very little acceptance of failure; we want to change the narrative.” 

— Jeyandran Venugopal, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Flipkart

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