Capital Increase Of $75 Million! Avery Dennison's 7-year Three-round Layout May Welcome The Next Wave Of IoT Trends!

Capital increase of $75 million! Avery Dennison's 7-year three-round layout may welcome the next wave of IoT trends!

Recently, Avery Dennison, a leading global supplier of label materials and smart labels, announced that it has completed its third strategic equity investment in Israeli innovative technology company Wiliot, with the total investment amounting to $75 million. This marks the crucial conclusion to the three rounds of progressive deep binding between the two parties, spanning seven years and three rounds, completely upgrading from early financial investment and technological trials to an exclusive deep industrial alliance + global commercial monopoly cooperation.

This major capital increase is not only Avery Dennison's firm bet on the passive IoT sector, but also marks the official transition from the traditional RFID intelligent identification era to the next-generation supply chain era of passive sensing, physical AI, and full-chain digitalization.

Looking back on the collaboration between the two parties, Avery Dennison's strategy for Wiliot has deepened step by step, making his intentions clear.

In 2019, Avery Dennison co-invested in Wiliot's Series B financing for the first time, pioneering the emerging passive Bluetooth sensing sector and initiating early strategic deployment;

In 2021, it completed its second follow-up investment, shifting its focus to technological collaboration and exploring the integration of smart tags and passive sensing technology;

In 2026, a major investment of $75 million will be launched, marking a qualitative leap in cooperation between the two parties. Avery Dennison has officially secured a seat on the Wiliot board, upgrading it to a core decision-maker and becoming its preferred global partner for inlay design, manufacturing, and commercialization, with capital, technology, capacity, and channels fully integrated.

Many peers might wonder: what exactly makes Wiliot able to keep Avery Dennison making such a big bet? The answer lies in passive, battery-free Bluetooth BLE sensor tags.

Unlike traditional RFID tags, Wiliot's IoT Pixels do not require batteries and can independently draw power using ambient RF waves, collecting multidimensional data such as item location, temperature and humidity, and status in real time, achieving full-chain perception at the single product level.

Simply put, traditional RFID tags mainly address "identity recognition" issues, while passive, battery-free Bluetooth BLE sensor tags focus on status monitoring and real-time sensing. The two are not substitutions but complementary symbiosis. In scenarios such as food cold chain, pharmaceutical traceability, fast-moving consumer goods retail, and logistics control, passive sensor tags enable more refined digital management, which is exactly what is needed for supply chain upgrades today.

As the absolute leader in the global smart label industry, Avery Dennison covers more than half of the global retail, logistics, and packaging supply chain markets, holding top-tier manufacturing capacity, global channels, and brand resources. This continued heavy investment in Wiliot, in my view, is essentially a self-upgrade and a way to secure its position in the sector.

First, it aims to break free from the traditional label manufacturer positioning and transform into a passive IoT + physical AI service provider, addressing shortcomings in low-power sensing technology and building technical barriers;

Second, relying on its global large-scale label production capabilities, it undertakes Wiliot's massive mass production demand for passive labels, quickly achieving cost reduction and commercialization of technology;

Third, seize industry standards and lead the next-generation track. Currently, the global passive IoT industry has yet to establish unified technical standards and implementation specifications. Avery Dennison is deeply involved in Wiliot technology iteration and solution implementation through the dual binding of capital + industry, pioneering standardized cases in retail, cold chain, pharmaceuticals, high-end manufacturing, and apparel supply chain scenarios. It is expected to lead the global Ambient IoT industry standard formulation and secure industry discourse power in the coming years.

In the future, smart tags will no longer be just simple identification carriers, but IoT terminals that integrate recognition, perception, and data transmission. For domestic RFID tag manufacturers, as the traditional RFID market gradually peaks, passive sensing and low-power IoT technologies may become the core tracks of the next round of industry competition.

Industry giants have already placed bets in advance. How SMEs can follow up and adapt to the new demands of supply chain digitalization is a question many RFID companies must consider going forward.