The French DIY giant Leroy Merlin has partnered with the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), Russia’s biggest fund for early-stage startups, to launch an accelerator for retail startups.
The program will target startups developing marketing software, automation and robotization solutions for internal operations in the field of logistics, solutions for heavy trucking uberization. Startups may apply until June 14.
The French group is also interested in finding technologies for in-house talent management, as well as services optimizing routine tasks for employees.
Selected startups will receive from 2.5 million to 25 million rubles ($40,000 – $400,000 at the current exchange rate). In addition, the teams will benefit from marketing, sales, analytics and retail market expertise from Leroy Merlin and IIDF experts. Besides, the startups will have the opportunity of launching their pilot projects at selected Leroy Merlin outlets in Russia.
As a further step, startups showing exponential growth may attract from 15 million to 324 million rubles (roughly $24,000 and $5.2 million) from the fund. IIDF experts will assist young companies in developing an individual scaling up or exit strategy, put them in contact with corporate clients and industry investors, provide them with PR and HR support.
“The IIDF has a rich experience in embedding innovative solutions for mutual advantage of big retailers and startups. We have over ten portfolio companies, which help either sell, or save more,” commented Dmitry Kalayev, director at the IIDF accelerator.
“We’ve already launched several pilot projects for our portfolio companies in cooperation with our long-standing partner, Leroy Merlin. We strongly believe that the new acceleration program will provide startups with a new client, while the company will be provided with additional competitive advantages,” he added.
Russia is a key market for Leroy Merlin, which opened its first outlet in the country back in 2004. The group has deployed so far some 75 outlets from Kaliningrad to Khabarovsk in the Far-East region, and launches up to 20 new ones every year.
Another big French retailer actively cooperating with Russian startups is Auchan. “Russia, along with France and China, is a key country in our open innovation strategy,” said Arèche Alamir, Chief Customers and Innovations Officer at Auchan Retail Russia, in a recent exchange with East-West Digital News. (See EWDN’s CEE Startup & VC Report, part 1: “Regional trends.”).
