At the recent ShopTalk trade show, Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce division, revealed that Walmart would begin an innovation and technology development project funded by but separate from its other operations, adding that it would bring on its first partner in the initiative shortly.
Now it seems like the retailer has.
The Reuters news service has reported that Walmart has hired Jenny Fleiss to work within its investment initiative dubbed Store No. 8. Lore noted that the tech incubator initiative is named for a store operated by the retailer’s founder Sam Walton as a location to test new ideas.
Fleiss was co-founder and former head of business development for Rent the Runway, a designer fashion rental company.
Lore described Store No. 8 as an independent, Walmart-funded innovation project that would invest in entrepreneur-developed businesses. The concept is to partner with entrepreneurs, provide them with financial means and let them assemble a business without the constraints normally imposed by the investment priorities of a publically traded company with quarterly goals.
