Why We Invested: SPOT
Navigating Security Challenges in Latin America: The Urgent Call for Innovative Solutions
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, security and asset protection have become paramount concerns for companies worldwide. Latin America finds itself at a pivotal moment, grappling with outdated camera technology that leaves crucial gaps in its security infrastructure. As retail shrinkage, encompassing theft, administrative errors, and supplier fraud, continues to plague industries, the National Retail Federation's staggering estimation of $95 billion in losses in the US alone in 2020 underscores the urgent need for innovative solutions. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of these challenges, particularly in regions like Latin America, the tools available to combat them remain antiquated, resulting in unnecessary losses across the supply chain.
The presence of surveillance cameras acts as a deterrent to theft, but their effectiveness is compromised by obsolete hardware, vendor restrictions, and inefficient management systems. This glaring deficiency underscores the pressing demand for modern, AI-driven solutions that can streamline processes and mitigate losses effectively. While Latin America holds immense untapped potential, projected to reach $1.7-$2.0 billion, the region's security landscape remains neglected by both established players and emerging startups. This oversight underscores the critical need for tailored solutions that can address the unique challenges faced in these emerging markets. Spot, a cloud-based platform for footage analytics, transcends hardware limitations, offering retailers a lifeline in their quest to fortify security measures and navigate the complexities of today's retail environment.
Revolutionizing Asset Protection and Operational Efficiency Through Intelligent Video Analytics
Spot provides a single source of truth for asset protection and operational teams. Whether ensuring adherence to standard procedures in warehouses for scalability, security, and safety, or monitoring retail locations to prevent losses, Spot transforms video into quantifiable and actionable data.
As an intelligent overlay to existing CCTV video, Spot leverages AI to capture firm-specific visual data, optimizing productivity and security. The company offers two distinct products: Vision X for retail stores and Vision W for warehouses. Spot seamlessly integrates with existing cameras, acting as a hardware-agnostic solution. The software overlay comprises three essential components:
· Video analytics—providing insights into what is happening, where it is happening, how it is happening, and who is involved
· Business intelligence—offering incidence rates, heat maps, case history, and more.
· Mobile alerts—engaging ground-level asset protection teams to proactively prevent or reactively resolve cases.
The Visionaries Behind Spot
Spot's journey unfolds through the ingenuity of a remarkable team, whose roots trace back to Universidad Don Bosco, one of El Salvador’s most prestigious institutions. Leading this team are CEO Julio Abrego, Head of AI Julio Rivera, Head of Back-end Gerardo Lopez, and Head of People and Culture Camila Orantes. With an academic foundation in computer science and electrical engineering, this dynamic team embodies the perfect blend of technical knowledge and entrepreneurial drive.
Their journey together started with a passion for unravelling real-world challenges, initially found inspiration from tackling traffic issues through machine vision technology. Choosing a path distinct from government projects, the team delved into markets where their innovation could make a tangible impact. Through rigorous exploration, they uncovered a solution to the unsolved security problems in Latin America's retail landscape.
Despite the challenges embedded in entrepreneurial pursuits, Spot’s team has defied the odds, transforming their vision into a reality. Their commitment to addressing complex security and operational issues with cutting-edge technology has been the driving force behind Spot's ascent.
Elevating Security and Efficiency Across our BU’s
Spot's software emerges as a valuable tool for enhancing security and operational efficiency across various settings, including OXXO stores, KOF’s plants and logistic facilities, and other segments of our supply chain. Connecting Spot with our corporate security team adds value to their product proposition and contributes to business growth. Integrating Spot's solution with our CCTV systems significantly enhances security across different business units. Furthermore, it's capability to extract data from an already implemented system represents a key value proposition for FEMSA.
We are excited to embark on this journey with Spot, contributing to the revolution of video analytics in Latin America!