Tech Companies From Flanders Discovering Mexico

A majority of the Flemish companies that have considerable investments in Mexico, are active in traditional industrial sectors like the automotive, textile, agricultural and the food and beverage processing sectors. But an exciting trend that can be observed recently, is that tech scale-ups from Flanders are also increasingly discovering Mexico. These companies have noticed Mexico’s tech talent production and are increasing operations in Mexico. In this article, three tech pioneers from Flanders in Mexico are presented, which, hopefully, will pave the way for further investments from tech firms from Flanders in the country.

Pioneer No. 1 is Deliverect. Deliverect offers technology that eases the task of managing and simplifying online orders for food vendors, such as restaurants. Deliverect allows a restaurant to integrate all online orders (delivery, pickup, and tableside ordering apps) to their existing POS, bridging the gap between third-party providers that are active in Mexico, such as Uber Eats, Didi Foods and Rappi, and POS systems. Deliverect has been operating in Mexico since 2020 and its Mexican client list includes important restaurant chains. In 2022, Deliverect selected Mexico for the location of its Latin American Customer Service Center, which will support the company’s operations throughout the Americas.

Another tech firm from Flanders that capitalizes on the availability of tech talent in Mexico is Eyesee. EyeSee is a tech-enabled behavioral research agency conducting online studies in 40-plus countries, using a mix of behavioral and conventional methods to unlock key insights on shopper marketing, advertising, and digital environments. 

Eyesee cites three main reasons why it opened an office in Mexico:

1. Availability of talent: Mexico offers a great pool of skilled professionals in the areas of market research and data analysis, which helps the company to provide a better service for its clients in the US and Latin America. Eyesee has hired 10 behavioral insights experts in Mexico and expects to continue to grow. 

2. Availability of potential clients: Mexico has a robust economy with various local and international players in food and beverage, FMCG and healthcare, which are potential clients for the tech firm. 

3. Growing market : the rapidly growing middle class in Mexico offers business potential for its current client base. By establishing a presence in Mexico, EyeSee gains valuable insights into consumer preferences that could give it an edge over competitors. 

For all these reasons, establishing an operations office in Mexico has been a strategic move for the tech firm from Flanders.

The third pioneer tech startup from Flanders in Mexico is Hashting. This tech firm developed a direct-to-consumer engagement and promotions platform, that runs on text messaging, allowing consumer brands to increase the instant sales impact of (trade/shopper) marketing activations and to collect first-party data. In 2021, Hashting saw a fit to enter the Mexican market, leveraging its relationship with global accounts, and activating pilots and projects with several multinational companies based in Mexico.  

The three main reasons that Hashting was convinced to enter the Mexican market were: 

1. Competition: Mexico has few competitors with the same complete offering as Hashting than, for example, the US market. 

2. The global crisis: Global clients are cutting down on marketing budgets and are looking for more cost effective promotions. 

3. Regulations: New regulations will come into place in the coming years regarding data privacy and cookies, making the gathering of qualitative first-party data one of the key objectives of many consumer brands.

These three pioneers are proof of Flanders’ flourishing tech sector, which continues to thrive and grow. In 2022, the combined enterprise value of the Flanders’ startup ecosystem reached €32.6 billion (US$38 billion), up six times since 2016, and is currently home to 2,000-plus startups, 200-plus scaleups and six unicorns. Flanders is also home to one of the world’s leading tech startup incubators, Imec.istart, which offers tech startups pre-seed funding and tailored support to succeed and grow internationally. 

The accelerator program of Imec.istart is open for international companies that want to expand globally, and Mexican tech firms are cordially invited to participate in the next open call, which will be launched at the beginning of May 2023.  

Another successful accelerator program in Flanders is Start it @KBC, which is supported by the second-largest bank in Belgium, KBC. Each year, 65 tech firms are selected for a one-year program that helps them to speed up their growth internationally with the support of vast expertise, an enormous global network, an inspiring workspace and quality mentorship. Mexican tech companies that are interested in this program should register, so they can be notified when the next application process opens in the second half of 2023.

Mexican companies that wish to know more about the tech sector in Flanders, or are interested in doing business in Flanders, are invited to contact the office of Flanders Investment & Trade in Mexico at : mexico@fitagency.be.