Flipkart-Myntra readies fashion incubator in hope of finding new local brands

When Indian e-commerce site Flipkart acquired fashion portal Myntra for an estimated Rs 2,200 crore earlier this year, the former’s co-founder Binny Bansal had said that fashion is one of the most important categories for Flipkart, adding “….we feel that together we can build a huge successful fashion business in next 5-10 years and we will continue to run both the entities independently because we want to preserve both the cultures.”

Bansal wasn’t kidding. Today the _Times of India_has reportsthat the new Flipkart-Myntra entity will be launching a fashion incubator to help get entrepreneurs online.

According to the article, the first batch of 20 entrepreneurs will begin in July and eventually the e-commerce site hopes to pick 3-5 brands annually that it can retail online and perhaps even pick up some equity in.

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Myntra CEO Mukesh Bansal is quoted in ToI saying, “The idea is to create sizeable indigenous fashion brands by mentoring young entrepreneurs who do not have access to capital, supply chain and distribution platforms.”

Fashion is important business for the site. As the Economic Times reports, together Flipkart and Myntra account for nearly half the online fashion market share.

Apart from bringing in outside talent, Myntra will also be pushing its own in-house brands like Roadster in the next few weeks. Closer to Diwali, Myntra will increase its brand portfolio to 10.