Avery Dennison Corp., the digital identification solutions vendor, today said it had made a $75 million minority investment in Wiliot, a provider of passive Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) sensors for supply chain inventory visibility.
The deal comes six months after Walmart named Avery Dennison to expand the use of RFID in fresh food applications, and nine months after Walmart picked Wiliot to deploy “ambient internet of things (IOT)” sensors across its supply chain, saying the goal of those moves was to enhance supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy, and cold chain compliance.
According to Avery Dennison, the decision to build on its solutions in radio frequency identification (RFID) and leverage Wiliot’s technology will make it better positioned to solve some of its customers’ most complex challenges through the use of multiple complementary sensing technologies. That move comes as the requirement for accurate data delivered through sensor technologies is becoming increasingly important as businesses look to AI to automate processes and drive efficient decision making.
As part of this deepened relationship, Avery Dennison will serve as the preferred inlay design, manufacturing, and commercial partner for Wiliot. The two companies will significantly strengthen and expand their joint go-to-market efforts to accelerate the adoption of digital identities on physical items across key industries including retail, logistics and food. Ohio-based Avery Dennison said.
“We believe in the power of passive Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) and the significant opportunity to expand our portfolio with the solutions from Wiliot,” Francisco Melo, president, intelligent labels technologies and digital solutions for Avery Dennison, said in a release. “BLE is a complementary technology to RFID. It increases the total addressable market and allows us to provide a broader set of solutions for improved visibility and condition monitoring for our customers, unlocking important data sets not possible before. With our strategic investment in Wiliot, we meet growing market demands to create value by connecting the physical and digital worlds.”
