Flipkart acquires Israel's Upstream Commerce

New Delhi: E-commerce major Flipkart on Tuesday said it has acquired Israel-based Upstream Commerce for an undisclosed amount as the Walmart-backed firm aims to further strengthen its selection and pricing capabilities.

Flipkart, which is locked in an intense battle for market leadership in India against American rival Amazon, will get access to advanced data science-based intelligent solutions through the acquisition, it said in a statement.

The buyout of Upstream Commerce, which offers cloud-based, automated competitive pricing and product analysis solutions, will also strengthen Flipkart's ability to deliver insights to its sellers, it added. Post the acquisition, the Upstream Commerce team, while continuing to work out of Israel, will become part of Flipkart.

"With the Upstream acquisition, we will now have tech and talent presence across Asia, US and Israel, some of the key global hubs for innovation... we are also looking forward to making Israel one of our excellence centres to do cutting edge data science work," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said.

Anil Goteti, Head of Marketplace at Flipkart, said through the added capabilities from Upstream, Flipkart will be able to provide sellers on its platform with automated pricing and help them plan their selection better in accurate, timely, and profitable way.

"These capabilities will be a big addition for us and together with our in-house AI capabilities, we will be able to share actionable insights with our sellers to help them make informed decisions on products and their pricing," he said.

Upstream Commerce was backed by YL Ventures as a leading investor from its inception to acquisition. Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to Upstream Commerce.