Xigem Technologies Corporation (CSE:XIGM) (FRA:2C1), a technology provider for the remote economy, said that it signed a letter of intent (LOI) on April 13, 2021, with commercial bakery Baketree Inc to develop a cloud-based technology platform based on Xigem’s iAgent software.
Baketree serves some of North America's largest grocery and mass merchant retailers and provides contract manufacturing services to other large commercial bakeries. The US bakery products market was pegged at $94 billion in 2020, with the global market expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% through to 2027, according to ReportLinker.
Toronto-headquartered Xigem said it will work with Baketree to help track its assets in the field and match its team members to customer inquiries.
"In additional to its quality baked goods, a business like Baketree thrives by being responsive to its customers and by effectively managing a complex distribution network that delivers products to thousands of locations,” Xigem Technologies co-founder and CEO Brian Kalish said in a statement.
“With iAgent, we intend to enhance Baketree's ability to manage that complexity," added Kalish.
Meanwhile, Baketree President Eric Shtapler noted that the company’s business has “evolved rapidly” in response to the changes affecting food retailers: there is growing consumer awareness about nutritional foods and “a shift towards home consumption and online grocery orders.”
"It is vital for us to ensure our sales and service teams are responding quickly to customers, and that we know exactly where our delivery assets are,” added Shtapler. “We are looking to iAgent to help us continue to manage our growth as we operate with more of a remote model."
Operating within the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market, which is tipped to grow to $300 billion globally by 20262, iAgent is a US patented and Canadian patent-pending cloud-based technology that will provide organizations with the infrastructure to manage employees, assets and operations remotely.
“iAgent can be tailored for businesses to enable them to remotely track and manage assets, transactions, fulfilment and service cycles while seamlessly integrating with most CRM and ERP systems,” said the company. In a nutshell, iAgent is a mobile, geo-targeted customer acquisition and retention application. iAgent will match sales and services with consumers in real-time.
As a follow-up to the LOI, and on signing a definitive agreement, Xigem will license the iAgent platform to Baketree on a SaaS basis for an annual licensing fee, the company said.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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