Commodities data firm Kpler has acquired two well-known ship tracking brands, MarineTraffic and FleetMon.
The deal follows an earlier acquisition of FleetMon by MarineTraffic, resulting in a coordinated double acquisition for Kpler in the maritime analytics space.
“Combining these companies’ strong points will allow Kpler to unlock more value for the maritime sector and increase the quality of the products, data, and services it provides to its clients. This comes at a time of increasing demand for new digital tools, as well as intensifying global challenges across the maritime supply chain,” Kpler stated in a release.
“Since its creation, Kpler has been focused on tracking cargoes, not vessels. We believe the time has come to marry commodity and maritime intelligence into one single platform,” said François Cazor, CEO of Kpler.
Brussels-headquartered Kpler has now made five acquisitions in the last 18 months and secured over $200m investment funding in 2022 from private equity firms Five Arrows and Insight Partners.
Commenting on today’s news, Splash columnist Kris Kosmala said: “It is no secret that the highly fragmented market of maritime-centric software is due for some serious consolidation.”
“Consolidation in maritime technology is very much needed and something we have been vocal about for years. There are too many niche companies solving tiny parts of a big puzzle and capturing minuscule market share in the process. We believe this is about to change, and that we will see many more such mergers and acquisitions in the years to come,” commented Ronny Waage, managing partner at Singapore-based Heron Advisory.
Splash has had a tie-up with MarineTraffic since 2015 whereby readers can hover over a ship’s name in any article and details of the vessel – its age, deadweight, etc – will pop up.
