Sicilian start-up raises €750,000 from Vertis and RedSeed

The venture capital duo joined 16 private investors in the round, taking a 40% stake in the firm in exchange for the capital injection.

WIB will use the fresh funding to build some of its proprietary vending machines and to boost its marketing efforts. The company expects to open its first WIB store in the coming weeks.

Company
Founded in 2013 and based in Sicily, WIB has created vending machines that are able to dispense any type of product including food, cosmetics, wine and electronics.

The firm connects e-commerce sites with the vending stores; customers are able to buy products through the online platform, on their smartphones or at the touchscreen interface on each machine. Users can then pick up their product at any time at the selected pick-up point.

According to WIB, retailers are effectively able to sell products in strategic locations, meeting customer demand for proximity and convenience.

The firm has attracted interest from Italian and international retailers. Italian supermarket IperCoop Sicilia will be WIB's first partner and will open a vending store in the coming weeks.

People
Elisa Schembari is partner and CEO of ReedSeed Ventures. Renato Vannucci is managing director of Vertis and worked on the deal. Antonino Lo Iacono is CEO of WIB.

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• Topics
• Southern Europe
• Early-stage
• Industrials
• Italy
• Vertis