Retail innovators: 5 startups pass out of Target’s accelerator in India

Five startups have just completed a four-month incubation program at US-based retailer Target’s accelerator in Bangalore. This is the second batch to graduate from the accelerator, which focuses on new ideas in retail. This batch of startups had innovators in omnichannel, data, digital marketing, mobile, and supply chain.

Here’s a quick look at the five fresh Target graduates:

Wazzat

Wazzat is a visual search engine. Its widget has both mobile and web APIs which ecommerce sites can easily integrate. The widget helps find visually similar products. During the incubation, it tested its “find similar” tool with apparel and shoes on the Target site.

Whodat

Whodat makes mobile augmented reality apps for brands to help customers visualize their products. For example, it piloted an app at the accelerator for people to see how Target’s dinnerware would look in their homes.

Visarity

Visarity enables interactive 3D experiences on both mobile and web, for apps as well as ads. It has wide applications in product demos, navigation maps, and gaming. Target used the Visarity platform to build a game experience for its media network.

Torch

Torch is a wireless sensor built by Antarix Labs to monitor smartphone activity inside a store. In this way, it aims to provide offline retailers with the kind of analytics on customers that online retailers now take for granted.

Synapse

This is another offline play. The Synapse app recognizes customers when they walk into a store and sends context-aware notifications to the lockscreens of their mobile phones. At Target, it piloted relevant push offers for customers on Android lockscreens.

Now, with the second batch having graduated, Target has called for applications for a third batch starting in June.