Target in India selected 10 startups for Cohort 7 of its Target Accelerator Program

Target in India, part of Target Corporation and one of North America’s largest discount retailers, today announced the launch of cohort seven of the Target Accelerator Program. Ten startups in areas such as supply chain, inventory placement, vendor management, ad technology, merchandising, product design and sustainability have been selected. The startups are Unifize, Entropik, Blubirch, Unreal AI, SprintAI, TrashCon, Stylumia, Intello Labs, Kenscio and Flixstock.

Through the four-month program, the startups will focus on leveraging technology to create solutions for the retail environment and enhance the shopping experiences of Target guests in stores and online. These startups will have access to Target mentors, tools, resources and operational support – as well as workspace at Target’s office in Bengaluru. The startups will use emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing and analytics.

Launched in 2005, Target in India has more than 3,000 team members engaged in work that supports Target’s global strategy across business areas such as technology, marketing, human resources, finance, merchandising, supply chain, property development, analytics and reporting. Target in India operates as a fully-integrated part of our global team.

Tammy Redpath, Senior Vice President and President, Target in India, said: “Every new batch brings new possibilities and opportunities to develop and scale solutions in the global retail setting. This batch is diverse in their capabilities influencing multiple areas of the business. We are excited to begin the work as one team, co-creating and developing disruptive solutions to address the needs of our guest and advance the retail industry.”

Below are the startups participating in the seventh batch of the Target Accelerator Program:

• Unifize – A platform that enables guided conversations to eliminate ambiguity in business processes.
• Entropik – A company that helps brands measure the cognitive and emotional responses of consumers to product experiences.
• Blubirch – A data-driven business-to-business platform to facilitate buying and selling of returned, excess and pre-owned inventory.
• Unreal AI – A platform enabling new highly optimised AI models on edge devices.
• SprintAI – An enterprise AI company building solutions for smart inventory placement, optimisation of assortment & buying decisions, and intelligent fulfilment.
• TrashCon – A company with a tool that enables the automated segregation of mixed waste into bio-waste and non-biowaste.
• Stylumia – A retail intelligence platform merging fashion with realtime analytics for trend forecasting.
• Intello Labs – A platform for grading and quality monitoring of agriculture commodities using AI tools such as computer vision and deep learning.
• Flixstock – A platform that creates high quality dynamic on-model images.
• Kenscio – A platform that enables automated, real-time, personalized email at scale.

Launched in 2013, the Target Accelerator Program gives startups a unique platform to develop, scale and test their products in a live retail environment, while also accessing Target mentors in India and the U.S. To date, 36 startups have graduated from the program and have worked with Target teams across stores, marketing, finance, legal, merchandising, mobile and digital.