The Flipkart Group has announced acquisition of a full-stack e-commerce enabler ANS Commerce, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
Flipkart did not respond to BusinessLine queries on the deal value and percentage of stake being acquired in ANS Commerce.
Started in 2017, ANS Commerce has built a full-stack offering for brands across the value chain, including brandstore tech, performance marketing tech and services, marketplace integrations and warehousing and facilities maintenance capabilities.
Flipkart’s association with ANS Commerce started last year when they were part of Flipkart’s tech startup accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap. Gurgaon-based ANS Commerce works with over 100 clients across the enterprise, mid-market, and D2C brands in different categories, supporting their transition to digital commerce.
Will operate independently
Post-acquisition, ANS Commerce will continue to operate as an independent business under its existing leadership team. According to the Linkedin page of ANS Commerce, its team strength is between 51–200 employees.
The company’s product offerings are said to help brands and businesses create digital brandstores/storefronts on their Kartify platform, improve return on Ad spends and manage end-to-end processes covering logistics and warehousing.
“At Flipkart, we are committed to developing and nurturing the internet consumer ecosystem, including developing and encouraging technological innovation that helps drive the Indian digital economy. Our efforts focus on ensuring that businesses, including MSMEs and smaller brands, can leverage the opportunities that e-commerce offers, to provide greater value and deeper experiences for Indian customers who are rapidly adopting digital commerce,” said Ravi Iyer, Senior Vice President and Head–Corporate Development at Flipkart.
Drastic change in consumer behaviour
“ANS Commerce was created to enable businesses to leverage the massive opportunity of e-commerce in India. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a dramatic change in consumer behaviour, and as a result, brands have also pivoted in their approach on how to engage with consumers,” said Vibhor, Amit, Nakul and Sushant, Co-founders, ANS Commerce in a joint statement.
“As Indian e-commerce grows, we see new-age brands building direct relationships with their customers. We’re excited to bring new SaaS services via ANS Commerce, to help Indian brands on their D2C journey and look forward to launching new industry–leading SaaS services to businesses adopting digitization,” said Anand Lakshminarayanan, Senior Vice President, Shopping Experiences and Commerce Cloud, Flipkart.