Swyft Inc. announced a seven-digit strategic investment from FEMSA’s Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. corporate venture fund.
The partnership between Swyft, a Silicon Valley-based software and robotics company, and FEMSA, the largest convenience store operator and food and beverage distributor in Latin America, is expected to facilitate future deployment of Swyft’s software and robotics technology.
"We’ve found many synergies where Swyft’s technology fits with our strategic goals to engage in complex markets with superior commercial tools,” said Javier Garcia, FEMSA’s director of corporate venturing and growth capital. “Autonomous, touchless grab-and-go solutions are the future of our industry and we’re pleased that one of our companies is already manufacturing equipment for Swyft.”
Swyft is the 15th strategic investment made since FEMSA formed its strategic corporate venture group in 2018. FEMSA operates several strategic businesses deploying industry-leading capabilities and cost-effective strategies. FEMSA Ventures portfolio includes companies operating in a variety of industries such as conversational commerce, last-mile logistics, e-commerce, retail and fintech.
“FEMSA’s corporate goals closely align with our strategy plans,” said Swyft chief executive Gower Smith. “We’re already leveraging FEMSA’s high quality and large-scale manufacturing capabilities to launch our cost-effective grab-and-go solutions into the U.S. market. These disruptive systems are like Amazon Go in a box and have wide scale application in retail and vending. We hope to earn the privilege to deploy our technology in FEMSA’s retail and food and beverage businesses and we couldn’t hope for a stronger partner to guide us as we expand into Latin America.”
As the largest bottler of Coca-Cola products by volume, the second-largest shareholder of leading brewer Heineken, and investor in commercial refrigeration company Imbera, FEMSA said it is a leading backer in the food and beverage industry. The company also touches the retail industry through FEMSA Comercio, a Proximity Division ,which operates OXXO, the largest chain of small-format stores in Latin America. FEMSA Comercio serves 13.2 million customers daily and operates nearly 20,000 stores in the U.S., Mexico, Chile, Columbia and Peru.
Swyft operates branded interactive kiosks in airports for brands like Benefit Cosmetics, robotic retail stores for companies like CVS and a network of kiosks for consumer electronics formerly branded by Best Buy.
