Walmart to focus on small ticketsize startup acquihires in India

As soon as Walmart-Flipkart deal came into existence, the speculation of pouring in money in the Indian startups by the US-based retail giant started to gather steam. Walmart had mentioned in its previous interview that it would double down on investments in its e-commerce business, hire more top tech talent from India.

Now, the company which has set up its Lab (Walmart Labs) in Bengaluru announced that it will look to acqui-hire tech startups in the country. Unlike other overseas Internet companies such as Amazon and Google, the Arkansas-based company will eye acquihire/acquisitions involving small amount.

According to the company's CTO, Jeremy King, the firm is looking to hire in the field of merchandising, machine learning, supply chain experience, data science and cloud experts, reports Mint.

He also added that Walmart Labs will hire 2,000 engineers across the world, including India.

Contrary to this, Flipkart on the other hand recently announced that it would slow down in investments in startups. The company's co-founder Binny Bansal had clarified that Flipkart may consider those companies who proves to be strategic to its business.

Both companies seem to have a different gameplan as far as investments in startups are concerned. For Walmart, it is just the beginning and as of now, it hasn't made any bet on Indian startups (except Flipkart).

Also Read: Walmart eyes anti-Amazon alliance: Will Google join to fight common enemy?

Meanwhile, Walmart's arch-rival Amazon has invested in over half a dozen startups including HouseJoy, Acko, Shuttl amongst others.

Going forward, it will be worthwhile to watch how the retail king counters the investment strategy of Amazon as well as Google which is looking to foray into the e-commerce space in India.