close
close

Flipkart acquires Israeli startup Upstream Commerce

Posted on by darion

Bangalore: Flipkart has acquired an Israeli analytics startup called Upstream Commerce as India’s largest online retailer looks to support its massive seller base with services such as real-time pricing and product inventory information.

This is Flipkart’s second acquisition in as many months, after the Walmart-controlled e-commerce company acquired Indian artificial intelligence startup Liv.ai in August. The latest acquisition will also enable Flipkart to open an outpost in Israel, which is widely considered to be one of the most important startup ecosystems in the world.

The terms of the latest deal were not disclosed.

“We will continue to aggressively build and acquire global technology to solve some of the most challenging e-commerce problems. With the acquisition of Upstream, we will now have technology and talent presence in Asia, the US and Israel, some of the key global innovation hubs. The Upstream Commerce team is incredibly talented and by welcoming them to Flipkart, we look forward to making Israel one of our centers of excellence to do pioneering data science work,” Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said in a statement.

Read also: Flipkart may appoint new group CEO to replace Binny Bansal

Upstream, which counted Israeli early-stage venture capital firm YL Ventures as its largest investor before the buyout, now builds cloud-based, automated products and solutions at competitive prices, among other things. Flipkart said the Upstream team will continue to operate out of Israel, and Upstream will also double as one of Flipkart’s global hubs for future data science work.

“While we have been actively developing machine learning algorithms to further improve selection and pricing parameters for sellers, we believe that with the additional capabilities of Upstream, we will be able to provide them with automated pricing and help them plan better selections in the most accurate, timely and profitable manner. These capabilities will be a great addition for us and along with our in-house AI capabilities, we will be able to share actionable insights with our sellers to help them make informed decisions about products and their pricing,” said Anil Goteti, Head of Marketplace at Flipkart.

Read also: After Flipkart and Amazon, Myntra to launch loyalty program

In a recent interview in August, Krishnamurthy had said that Flipkart would continue to invest heavily in new technologies, especially in areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning, and indicated that the online retailer would not shy away from making big, bold acquisitions to expand its offerings.

“Not only will we consider it, but we will pursue it,” Krishnamurthy said then when asked about further technology acquisitions that could be integrated with Flipkart.

Under Krishnamurthy, Flipkart has shown renewed aggression towards big investments or outright buyouts in internet and technology startups as the e-commerce company seeks to diversify its business and reduce its dependence on a few categories such as smartphones and major home appliances.

Also read: Flipkart and Amazon spare no expense for the sale season

Mint had earlier reported in September that Flipkart was in talks to buy a stake in Hotstar, Star India’s video streaming service. This is part of a broader strategy to focus on video content and attract more consumers and buyers from the Internet, without having to create a streaming service from scratch like Amazon Prime Video.

Flipkart said Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to Upstream Commerce for this transaction.

3.6 Crore Indians visited us in a single day, choosing us as India’s undisputed platform for announcing the results of general elections. Browse Latest Updates Here!