Walmart Global Tech, the technology group of Walmart, has partnered with a business incubator in India to back early-stage deeptech startups. IIMK LIVE, the incubator of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, in southern India, launched the program, called Deep Leap. The Hindu BusinessLine reported that it is Walmart Global Tech’s first institutional partnership focused on such startups in India.
Deep Leap targets startups that have reached the prototype or minimum viable product stage in areas including artificial intelligence and machine learning, quantum computing, robotics and autonomous systems, space technology, aerospace, semiconductors and photonics. It will engage with 1,500 startups from across the country and select fifty for a twelve-month incubation and acceleration cohort.
The photograph shows Walmart’s wholesale business, not the Deep Leap program.
Selected founders will receive mentoring on business strategy, go-to-market planning, product validation and investor readiness, along with chances to meet industry leaders and investors. YourStory reported that the program includes a Demo Day.
Debashis Chatterjee, director of the institute and chairman of IIMK LIVE, said Deep Leap brings together academia, industry and entrepreneurship to give technology ventures the support they need to move from prototype to scale.
Rahul Ghosh, group director of data science at Walmart Global Tech, said, “this unique collaboration at the intersection of academia and entrepreneurship is well-positioned to advance cutting-edge technology and make a meaningful, positive difference in the communities we serve.”
The program draws on Walmart Global Tech’s technology capabilities, industry perspective and global scale, along with IIMK LIVE’s incubation and entrepreneurship expertise.
