Flipkart

Flipkart Ventures, the investment arm of e-commerce company Flipkart, has backed artificial intelligence startups Alive and Keploy, expanding its portfolio of early-stage technology companies in India.

The two startups will receive capital support along with strategic mentorship, operational expertise and access to Flipkart's wider ecosystem. Financial details of the investments have not been disclosed. Flipkart Ventures said the support is intended to help the companies strengthen their businesses and scale their respective products.

Alive operates an AI-powered platform for curated lifestyle experiences. The company uses an AI-based technology stack to design, build and distribute experiences across India. It currently offers more than 500 live experiences across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Goa.

Alive separately announced that it has raised $1 million in a funding round led by Powerhouse Ventures and Flipkart Ventures. The company plans to use the capital for product and supply expansion as it looks to increase the availability of curated experiences for urban consumers.

Keploy, meanwhile, operates in the software development and testing segment. Its open-source continuous verification platform converts real application traffic into replayable regression tests and digital twin sandboxes.

The technology allows enterprises and developers to reproduce production scenarios locally and within continuous integration and continuous delivery, or CI/CD, environments. According to the company, this can help engineering teams identify regressions in software releases and AI-generated code earlier in the development cycle.

Nishant Verman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Partnerships at Flipkart, said Alive and Keploy represent startups using technology to address real-world problems and develop new consumer experiences. He added that Flipkart Ventures provides early-stage companies with mentorship, operational expertise and access to the Flipkart ecosystem alongside capital.

The founders of Keploy said the partnership would provide opportunities to work with Flipkart's engineering teams at production scale, while Alive founder Vivek Kumar said Flipkart's experience in consumer-scale distribution could support the company's expansion.

Flipkart Ventures has backed more than 20 startups since its inception, spanning areas including AI, consumer internet, fintech, logistics technology and businesses adjacent to e-commerce. Portfolio companies can also access Flipkart leadership for guidance across business, product, technology and finance.

The investment arm has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade to support technology startups in India.

The latest investments extend Flipkart Ventures' AI portfolio across two different applications, with Alive applying the technology to consumer experiences and Keploy using it for software development and testing.

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