Target India hosted a Demo Day for the third batch of start-ups graduating from the Accelerator Program. The five start-ups, Find Me A Shoe, TimeFlex, BugClipper, Discover Dollar & House of Blue Beans showcased transformative ideas developed during the four-month immersive program.
Navneet Kapoor, president and managing director, Target India said
Being the first mover in this space in India, this initiative has provided us a unique opportunity to work with some of the best entrepreneurs, who have the potential to solve global retail problems. We have already worked with 15 start-ups over three batches and it has been tremendously exciting and satisfying to see start-ups mature their product journeys through this engagement, while helping Target accelerate its innovation journey. We are committed to growing the scope of this initiative and will continue to nurture path-breaking ideas that hold the potential to disrupt the retail industry.
Many of the start-ups, who have graduated from this program, have continued to work with Target beyond the program. For example, Whodat Spaces continues to offer virtual reality guest experiences & Visarity helped us with digital marketing solutions over the last few months. Future engagement opportunities with the current batch are being evaluated.
Strengthening innovation capabilities within the organization, the third batch also provided three internal Target teams a platform to work alongside the five external start-ups. These teams will grow and implement their ideas at Target.
The third batch focused on themes like Merchandising, Digital Marketing, Omni-channel, Mobile, Supply Chain & Analytics Technology, along with areas like Finance and DevOps that are core to retail technology. The five start-ups which presented at today’s Demo Day were:
Along with the graduation of its third batch of start-ups, Target is also excited to announce a partnership with GOQii, a wearable technology start-up. With a focus on wellness, Target is undertaking various initiatives to promote team member well-being. Making healthy living easier and more fun, every team member in India will be given a GOQii device to help track their well-being goals. This is one of the largest corporate wellness group purchases of GOQii devices to date.
Target is now accepting applications for the fourth batch of the Accelerator Program. You can apply for the same here. Scheduled to commence early next year, the four-month initiative will be run out of a specially designed, energetic and creative hub at Target India’s office in Manyata Tech Park, Bengaluru
[Image Credit* – ExcellMktg]