The Marcura Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire maritime procurement platform ShipServ, with the transaction expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.
ShipServ’s 126 employees will join Marcura’s 850 staff to serve a combined customer base of 800 maritime customers and a network of 47,000 maritime suppliers.
The deal has been overseen by Marlin Equity Partners, a venture capital firm with over $8.9 billion under management, which invested in Marcura in August 2022.
“The combination of Marcura and ShipServ creates an industry-leading vertical software, data, payments and procurement platform focused on the maritime sector,” said Jens Poulsen, Marcura Group CEO.
“Our extensive blue-chip customer base spans the world’s largest commodity shipping, container and cruise line organisations. Both organisations share a foundation based on industry expertise and unwavering customer satisfaction, which will drive our joint product evolution, enhancing value across our customer base.”
“Marcura and ShipServ are a complementary fit that will combine broad product offerings and market presence with an established platform. Our shared extensive maritime experience, dedication to excellence, and a commitment to providing exceptional customer service makes this collaboration a natural choice. I am confident that our organisations will foster a close cultural alignment.”
According to ShipServ CEO Henrik Hyldahn, the integration will allow the trade platform to incorporate Marcura's features, including payments processing, proprietary know-your-customer (KYC) compliance data, and settlement workflow. "We can offer solutions to the industry’s growing need for digitalisation, efficiency and compliance," Hyldahn said. Meanwhile, Marcura will be able to integrate ShipServ's pricing data and logistics monitoring tools into its existing platform.
Integration of ShipServ’s offerings with Marcura’s applications covering port spend management, compliance, port optimisation intelligence, and supplier, agent, and crew payments will open up the potential to incorporate new functionality for the e-procurement platform, in areas like proprietary compliance and settlement workflow management.
ShipServ will continue to operate as a separate company following the acquisition, maintaining its own brand identity.
