Swiss Post has acquired a majority stake in SpotMe, which offers digital platforms for secure and confidential communication between enterprise businesses and their customers.
This technology is used to hold in-person, hybrid and virtual events, but can be used wherever high-security standards are required to exchange confidential information. SpotMe employs 120 people. With the acquisition, Swiss Post intends to help its business customers to make their communication more efficient, engaging and location independent through digitization.
Enterprise businesses are facing the challenge of communicating with their customers in a new way. Corporate communication has to become more efficient, engaging and location independent. It means businesses are shifting their customer communication away from simply providing information and toward interactive, digital forms of engagement. At the same time, growing numbers of Swiss Post’s business customers require secure digital solutions to communicate with their customers.
Founded in 2000, the Swiss company SpotMe is a spin-off from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). It gives enterprise businesses the foundations for communicating with a large number of customers or employees in a secured, digital environment, as well as for exchanging corporate and customer information in a secure manner. SpotMe specializes in providing its customers with communication platforms for organizing and conducting events, from one-hour webinars to large-scale, multi-day hybrid and in-person conferences. Digital communication extends beyond national borders, and SpotMe is now well-established internationally. Through prioritizing data security, SpotMe counts leading enterprises among its customers, including major companies in the pharmaceuticals, financial services and industrial sectors.
For the 120 staff at SpotMe, the acquisition will not involve any changes – they will continue to be employed by SpotMe. Nothing will change for SpotMe’s customers either as a result of the majority shareholding: the Lausanne-based company will continue to operate independently and will press ahead with its national and international expansion. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price or details of the acquisition.
Nicole Burth, member of executive management and head of the communication services unit at Swiss Post, commented, “The confidential transfer of data from A to B has always been part of Swiss Post’s self-perception and core mandate. The need for mail secrecy also exists in the digital world. All kinds of events play an important role in customer communication. The services provided by SpotMe will in future allow us to offer our business customers security and simplicity in this area.”
Pierre Metrailler, CEO of SpotMe, said, “We carefully considered who SpotMe’s future partner should be and found a fitting match in Swiss Post, a company that shares our values of reliability, trust and security. This strategic partnership is expected to provide us with significant momentum for growth, and will benefit not only our company, but also our customers on both sides.”
For more of the latest business diversification news from the parcel and postal technology industry, click here.