Flipkart acquires Israel's Upstream Commerce

New Delhi: E-commerce major Flipkart Tuesday said it has acquired Israel-based Upstream Commerce for an undisclosed amount as the Walmart-backed firm aims to further strengthen its selection and pricing capabilities.

Flipkart, which is locked in an intense battle for market leadership in India against American rival Amazon, will get access to advanced data science-based intelligent solutions through the acquisition, it said in a statement.

The buyout of Upstream Commerce, which offers cloud-based, automated competitive pricing and product analysis solutions, will also strengthen Flipkart's ability to deliver insights to its sellers, it added.

"With the Upstream acquisition, we will now have tech and talent presence across Asia, US and Israel, some of the key global hubs for innovation... we are also looking forward to making Israel one of our excellence centres to do cutting edge data science work," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said.

Anil Goteti, Head of Marketplace at Flipkart, said through the added capabilities from Upstream, Flipkart will be able to provide sellers on its platform with automated pricing and help them plan their selection better in accurate, timely, and profitable way.