Flipkart launches programme to find D2C brands and enable funding for them

The D2C (direct to consumer) sector in India is currently worth $44.6 billion (end of FY 2021) and is expected to be worth $100 billion by 2025.

Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart has launched ‘‘Flipkart Boost’, an integrated programme for new age digital-first consumer brands to move into the next phase of growth. Through a service fee model, Flipkart Boost will provide emerging Made in India brands end-to-end support covering planning, advertising, cataloguing, logistics, quality control and mentoring.

The Flipkart Boost program will shortlist brands based on a clear set of pre-decided objective criteria. This covers their growth potential, sustainable revenue run rate, focus on quality, commitment to building a long-lasting brand, strong product mix and customer orientation. Through a ‘pitch day’ facilitated by Flipkart, the selected brands will also have the opportunity to secure potential funding. This would be from a network of leading venture capital funds and active investors in the D2C space, including A91 Partners, DSG Consumer Partners, Fireside Ventures, Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Stellaris Venture Partners.

“The onset of the pandemic and the resulting rise of direct-to-consumer brands have boosted the MSME sector in India,” said Ravi Iyer, senior vice president and head, corporate development, Flipkart. “The growing popularity of digital-first brands driven by a focus on specific customer needs demonstrates immense market potential. 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.”

The programme was successfully piloted with several brands earlier this year, seeing significant growth in quarterly revenue since inclusion in the program. These brands cover a diverse range of segments, including F&B, baby care, lifestyle, beauty and home improvement.

Selected brands will be able to leverage Flipkart’s expertise across functions. They would be able to use value-driven business insights, expand digital visibility, and penetrate various geographies with the ideal solutions to strengthen their presence and create measurable impact among customers. The Flipkart Boost program will enable growth opportunities for these brands through insights into their performance and customer traction.

The Flipkart Boost Program reinforces Flipkart’s mission to offer growth opportunities to budding D2C brands. Based on certain criteria, brands can apply directly on the Flipkart seller platform, of which 100 brands will be chosen for the programme this year.

Over the past 18 months, over 800 D2C brands have leveraged the power of digital to build their presence and cater to evolving customer preferences. The pandemic has accelerated the uptake for D2C brands, with an almost 88 per cent rise in demand over 2019. The D2C sector in India is currently worth $44.6 billion (end of FY 2021) and is expected to be worth $100 billion by 2025, as per a report by Avendus Capital in October 2020.