Walmart-owned Flipkart has invested in four early-stage startups through its $100 million venture fund, Flipkart Ventures.
Fintech startup Castler, healthtech startup FlexifyMe, climatetech startup ReCircle and artificial intelligence-based post-production startup Algomage have secured investments from Flipkart Ventures.
The investment made was part of the company’s accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap Ahead, the companies said.
While Castler and Algomage secured $500,000 (Rs 4.16 crore) from Flipkart Ventures, the quantum of investment made by the firm in FlexifyMe and ReCircle was not disclosed.
Additionally, the investments were part of larger rounds. For instance, Castler secured $500,000 from Flipkart Ventures and thus closed its pre-Series A funding round at $5.5 million (Rs 45.8 crore). The startup had previously raised $5 million (Rs 41 crore) co-led by IIFL fintech fund and Info Edge’s fund Capital 2B in March.
Similarly, ReCircle also closed its pre-series A funding round as it received investments from Flipkart Ventures along with 3i Partners, Acumen Fund Inc and a pool of high-net-worth (HNI) investors.
FlexifyMe secured $1 million in its seed funding round, which was led by Flipkart Ventures. GSF, iHub Anubhuti, Chandigarh Angels (CAN), Venture Catalyst, OneCapital amongst others participated in the funding round.
Mumbai-based Algomage secured $500,000 in its pre-Series A funding round from Flipkart Ventures.
Flipkart Leap Ahead is an accelerator programme that aims to provide early-stage startups with mentorship and guidance to scale and build disruptive innovations.
In 2022, it invested in six startups namely Dopplr, Livwell, LogisticsNow, NeuroPixel.AI, Rightbot Technologies and Sellerapp with a cheque size of upto $500,000.
Flipkart Leap Ahead includes a 16-week mentorship training, which comprises a Bain-designed programme including regular mentor connect sessions with Flipkart leaders across the business, product, technology and finance functions.
Earlier this year, VCCircle had reported that the Walmart-owned online retailer was in talks to acquire a stake in Bengaluru-based Pharmallama, in what would be its second such deal in the Indian online pharmacy market.
