Walmart India unit Flipkart setting up R&D center in Israel – report

Flipkart, which is India’s biggest e-commerce outfit and is owned by US retail firm Walmart, is strengthening its technology base in Israel after acquiring the analytics startup Upstream Commerce last year, the financial website ETtech said Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The Indian firm is putting in place a local management team and setting up a research and development center that will focus on cybersecurity technologies, cloud computing and data protection, and will also be on the lookout for acquisitions in Israel, the report said. The firm will be actively pursuing AI, computer vision and security technologies, the website said, citing one of the people familiar with the matter.

Walmart has also been looking actively at the Israeli market for potential investments, the website said. Last month the CEO of the US retail giant, Doug McMillon, arrived in Israel on a secret visit at the head of a delegation of senior company officials, Israeli financial website Calcalist reported citing several people familiar with the matter.

“Our team in Israel is highly talented and we are also looking forward to making Israel one of our excellence centres to do cutting-edge data science work,” a Flipkart spokesperson said in an emailed statement to ETtech.

In February, Walmart announced its acquisition of Israel-based Aspectiva, a startup that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies to analyze consumer opinions from the web with the goal of creating a better shopping experience.

In October, Walmart made a strategic investment in Team8, an Israeli think tank and tech incubator. The firm has also launched a joint venture with Eko, an interactive media and technology company with offices in Tel Aviv and New York, and recently joined The Bridge, a technology accelerator connecting global companies with the technology startup community in Israel.