Flipkart, e-commerce major, on Tuesday, said it has selected eight finalists for the maiden cohort of its own startup accelerator programme which will now be undergoing a 16-week mentorship programme. It will receive an equity-free grant of $25,000.

Flipkart, now own by Walmart, had launched ‘Flipkart Leap’ in August last year for helping new startups grow, scale, navigate challenges, and contribute to India’s uprising entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A statement released said, “After a rigorous four-stage process, eight finalists were shortlisted from among more than 920 applicants across five categories: Design and Make for India; Innovations in Digital Commerce; Technologies to Empower Retail; SCM and Logistics; and Enabling Deep Tech Applications.”

The statement also released the list of eight cohort companies which includes - ANS Commerce, Entropik Tech, Fashinza, Gully Network, Piggy, Tagbox Solutions, Unbox Robotics, and Wolkus Technology.

The statement added, “These shortlisted startups will now undergo a 16-week mentorship program conducted by a team of Flipkart leaders and various industry experts. The mentorship program has been crafted to provide knowledge of Venture development and secure partnerships for the selected startups under two separate tracks."

This first track will include one-on-one business and technical mentorship, masterclasses, and networking sessions, which will focus on venture development through tools, and best practices for building a scalable business in India. The second track will help the startups in exploration of the partnership opportunities with relevant business units at Flipkart.

It also added that the finalists will receive an equity-free grant of USD 25,000 each.

Flipkart Vice President (Product Strategy and Deployment) Naren Ravula, said, “With Flipkart Leap, we aim to nurture promising startups and help them create compelling solutions for customers and bring value to the industry. The quality of the startups and the number of applications we received has been encouraging.”