Transportation and logistics provider Descartes Systems Group has acquired Cracking Logistics Limited dba “Kontainers”, a provider of client-facing digital freight execution platforms, for a total consideration of up to US$12 million.
The United Kingdom-based Kontainers transforms the customer experience for carriers, freight forwarders and third-party logistics service providers around the world, according to an announcement, while its solutions facilitate a fully digital customer experience including quoting, booking, tracking and dashboard analytics.
The company’s digital freight platform enables these logistics services providers (LSP) to rapidly create branded state-of-the-art digital experiences for their end customers. Kontainers’ technology also helps API-enable LSPs while preserving their investments in existing rate management and back-office systems.
“Descartes will give us the opportunity to reach a broader audience much more quickly. When added to the Global Logistics Network, we’ll also have the ability to offer a pre-integrated solution that combines Kontainers digital freight execution with Descartes’ rate management and forwarder enterprise systems,” said Graham Parker, co-founder of Kontainers and now VP sales digital freight solutions at Descartes.
“The last few months have shown how quickly the world can change, and the shift to digitisation is accelerating as a result,” commented Edward J. Ryan, Descartes CEO. “Without the proper real-time connections between client-facing platforms and the quoting, rating and booking systems that this digitisation brings, LSPs will struggle to efficiently meet customer demand in today’s dynamic market.”
The up-front consideration reached US$6 million, plus potential performance-based consideration. The up-front consideration was satisfied with cash on hand. The maximum amount payable under the all-cash performance-based earn-out is US$6 million, based on Kontainers achieving revenue-based targets in each of the first two years post-acquisition. Any earn-out is expected to be paid in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023.
