Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal has launched a franchising business ‘Opptra’ that will licence and sell branded consumer goods in Asia. Brands in fashion, lifestyle, home and kitchenware, electronics and general merchandise will be able to leverage Opptra’s global supply chain infrastructure to accelerate their entry into Asian markets.
“Asia is driving 70% of global consumer growth and the rapid rise of e-commerce has lowered barriers to expansion in the region. This gives brands reduced entry costs, broader consumer reach, and the agility to test and learn faster than in physical retail,” the company said in a statement.
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Bansal said that Asia is just the start and his longer term vision is to take brands from anywhere to everywhere around the world. The franchises will focus on e-commerce channels, but will also have some brick-and-mortar stores.
For this, Opptra has recruited several industry leaders including Ranjit Babu, a retail veteran from companies like Nokia, Apple and Amazon India, to head its electronics and general merchandise division. Technology is being led by Giridhar Yasa, who was previously at Lendingkart and Flipkart, while Anand Raj, who has previously worked with Flipkart and Swiggy, will lead supply chain.
Two of the businesses under Opptra are already in operation, the company said. Exporio, which caters to fashion and lifestyle brands for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, and Terraspan, catering to home and kitchenware brands for Southeast Asia and the GCC region. More franchise businesses in electronics, sports, babycare and general merchandise are currently being incubated.
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“The vision for each business is to become the partner of choice for brands in their category to launch in any Asian market,” the company said.
Bansal, the founder and chairman of Opptra, was the co-founder of Flipkart, which he exited in 2019 after Walmart acquired a 77% stake in the e-commerce giant for $16 billion. In 2019, Bansal also co-founded a scaling platform xto10x with his former colleagues at Flipkart.
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