Ricoh and Butlr form capital and business alliance
January 29, 2025
The Stock Purchase Agreement was signed on 13 December 2024.
Ricoh Company, Ltd. and Butlr Technologies Inc. (Butlr), a U.S.-based company that builds scalable people-sensing data infrastructure, announced that the two companies have entered into a business alliance agreement through Ricoh’s corporate venture capital (CVC) fund, the RICOH Innovation Fund, on 1 January 2025.
Through this capital and business alliance, Ricoh and Butlr will undertake and explore the following initiatives:
- Applying Butlr’s sensor products and technologies to Ricoh’s services, such as RICOH Spaces.
- Expanding the deployment of Butlr’s sensor products and services, currently implemented locally by Ricoh, to global markets.
- Leveraging Ricoh’s sales channels for the global distribution of Butlr’s sensor products.
- Jointly developing new products and services that utilize Butlr’s sensor technologies.
- Exploring other areas of mutual benefit identified by both companies.
Ricoh established this CVC fund in November 2023 and is working to accelerate its transformation into a digital services company by supporting the growth of B2B startups.
“We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Butlr through this capital and business alliance. I have no doubt that together with Butlr, we will further advance Ricoh’s Workplace Experience business and contribute to the societal implementation of physical space AI that Butlr is striving to achieve,” said Sanae Endo, General Manager, Corporate Planning Center, Ricoh Company, Ltd.
Honghao Deng, CEO and co-founder, Butlr, added, “Our partnership with Ricoh enables us to expand our presence in the workplace and meet the growing demand for our Heatic 2+ sensors, which provide original, real-time insight into the needs of the workforce while ensuring privacy. Together, Ricoh and Butlr are transforming the workplace experience by enabling the highest levels of productivity and collaboration.”
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