Mexico’s FEMSA backs robotic solution Swyft with seven-digit investment

The partnership is expected to facilitate future scale deployment of Swyft’s software and robotics technology across retail, food, and beverage business in Latin America.

Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA), the largest convenience store operator and food and beverage distributor in Latin America, is investing a seven-digit figure through its corporate venture fund into Swyft, Inc., a global leader in the robotic and software-powered marketplace, according to a company’s press release.

The strategic partnership is expected to facilitate future scale deployment of Swyft’s software and robotics technology, which provides unattended delivery for brands, merchants and last-mile providers.

“We’re already leveraging FEMSA’s high quality and large-scale manufacturing capabilities to launch our cost-effective Grab & Go solutions into the US 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,” said Gower Smith, Swyft CEO.

“The Swyft platform is scalable, intuitive and efficiently services customers’ needs. 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,” said Javier Garcia, FEMSA’s Director of Corporate Venturing & Growth Capital.

Swyft is the 15th strategic investment made since FEMSA formed its strategic corporate venture group in 2018.

FEMSA operates in the retail industry through FEMSA Comercio, a Proximity Division which operates OXXO, the largest and fastest-growing chain of small-format stores in Latin America. FEMSA Comercio has nearly 20,000 stores in the USA, Mexico, Chile, Columbia and Peru.