Flipkart acquires Israel-based technology firm Upstream Commerce

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Sep 26, 2018

Indian e-commerce major Flipkart has acquired Israel-based technology-focused start-up Upstream Commerce for an undisclosed amount, as it looks to strengthen its innovation capabilities across the globe.

The cash-rich Flipkart, which is backed by Walmart, has been investing heavily to strengthen its technology network by acquiring smaller companies to take on arch-rival Amazon in a key growth market.
 
Last month, Flipkart acquired an Indian artificial intelligence-led speech-recognition start-up Liv.ai to expand in tier 2, 3 cities through conversational e-commerce experience in local languages

The acquisition of Upstream Commerce is expected to benefit sellers on the Flipkart platform, as it will give them deeper insights into their product assortment and pricing strategies. The Upstream Commerce team will continue to operate out of Israel office.
 
Commenting on the acquisition, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart in a statement said, “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. The team at Upstream Commerce is highly talented and as we welcome them to Flipkart we are also looking forward to making Israel one of our excellence centres to do cutting-edge data science work.”
 
Amos Peleg, CEO Upstream Commerce, added, “The choice and vision of Flipkart to establish its presence in Israel through acquiring Upstream Commerce is a significant vote of confidence in the company’s team, technology, and domain expertise, and are looking forward to helping to grow the presence of Flipkart in Israel.”
 
Upstream Commerce is one of Israel’s leading technology start-ups that build cloud-based, automated competitive pricing and product analysis solutions.