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    Indian startups should focus on developing solutions for India: Jeremy Basset

    Synopsis

    On the sidelines of Cannes Lions festival ET caught up with Unilever Foundry's Basset to know more about the Foundry’s plans.

    ET Bureau
    Jeremy Basset, Unilever’s global marketing strategy and ventures director, is the head of Unilever’s year-old unit — Unilever Foundry — that collaborates with startups in the ad tech, marketing tech, research, new media, in-store and brand engagement space. On the sidelines of Cannes Lions festival Brand Equity’s Shephali Bhatt caught up with him to know more about the Foundry’s plans. Edited excerpts of the interview:

    What’s the function of Unilever Foundry?

    Unilever Foundry was set up exactly 12 months ago to connect and engage with startups, enable collaboration and experimentation. Brands put a brief, any of the startups in Foundry’s network apply, there’s a pitch and the winner works on a project basis with the brand. Currently, 60 such pilot projects are underway.

    So, do you invest in these startups?

    No, we have no equity stake. We only provide them a platform. Unilever Ventures looks at startup investments.

    As of date, 3,000 startups have applied to the Foundry of which 65 made it to pilot phase and 30 have scaled, which means we’ve worked with them more than twice. These startups are mostly centred in the UK — which is our headquarters (HQ) — the US and in some parts of Asia like Singapore where we setup an office this January.

    No plans for India yet?

    We’re planning to setup an India office this year. Two Indian startups namely Ozonetel and Digital Genius are a part of Unilever Foundry’s Top 50 advertising and marketing startups. They’ve worked on Kan Khajura Tesan and the brand Knorr respectively.

    What’s the annual budget set aside for Unilever Foundry?

    I can’t tell you that but what I can share is $6 million have been paid to startups we’ve piloted with, in the last one year. Their remuneration is determined by the brand’s budget.

    The budget for me is different and significantly lesser if you combine the total amount paid to all of them because my role is to build a platform for startups and enhance their awareness level. About 300 of Unilever’s 7,000 marketers have opted in to mentor these startups as well because they feel the closer you get to these guys, the more cross-learning there is. But we’ve never put a value on our mentoring.

    Any mistakes made in choosing the right startups?

    We have realised it’s better to collaborate with startups that are neither too small, nor too big. It’s better to bet on the ones in the scalable territory who have proven tech capabilities. Secondly, cultural transformation is vital and it has to happen from both sides. Also, if you’re building something yourself, it can get obsolete in one to two years. So, partnership with startups is a better route because then your livelihood doesn’t depend on it.

    Where do Indian startups or those from other emerging markets lag behind?

    India has a vibrant entrepreneurial culture. They’d do better if all of them don’t aim to become the next big thing in the Silicon Valley. They should focus on developing solutions for their market, pick issues that are close to their heart and country.

    What has Unilever HQ learnt from all the startup interactions?

    Our guys (who mentor these startups) learn much more than what they teach. The closer we get to these guys, the more we learn about the entrepreneurial culture. We recognise there’s massive learning on agility and innovation from these startups and it’ll help us in pioneering the future. To pioneer the future, MNCs need to adapt entrepreneurial culture. That’s the way to go.
    The Economic Times

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