Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.-based Descartes Systems Group has acquired English shipment management platform provider BoxTop Technologies for £10.25 million ($18 million CAD).
Descartes’s growth has been fuelled by actively acquiring other freight, transportation, and supply chain management companies.
Based out of Windsor, UK, BoxTop provides a platform for small-to-medium sized logistics service providers (LSPs) to manage their shipping operations, with quoting, routing, booking, and an analytics dashboard.
Descartes has been working with BoxTop for a number of years, Scott Sangster, Descartes’s general manager of LSPs, said in a statement, adding that the acquisition was seen as the next logical step of their partnership.
“BoxTop has an excellent solution for small- to mid-sized LSPs, and we see an opportunity to integrate it with more solutions on the [global logistics network],” Sangster said. “This will help us deliver more value to BoxTop customers and expand the geographic footprint into more countries in Europe.”
Descartes CEO Edward J. Ryan said that LSPs are continuing to digitize their operations and the company wants to make sure small-to-medium sized LSPs have the access to the same solutions that help “manage the lifecycle of shipments.” Ryan added that Descartes is “excited to welcome the BoxTop employees, customers, and partners” to the company.
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Founded in 1981 and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1998, Descartes offers software solutions for use in logistics and supply chains, including managing and monitoring logistical processes such as delivery resources, invoices, documentation, and shipments.
Descartes’s growth has been fuelled by actively acquiring other freight, transportation, and supply chain management companies.
In April, Descartes acquired Irish company Aerospace Software Developments (ASD) for €54 million ($79 million CAD) from cash on hand at close, but with “final arrangements” expected by the end of January 2025. Ken Wood, executive vice-president of product management at Descartes, said the firm saw potential in combining ASD’s RFID tracking solutions with its own real-time tracking platform.
Descartes previously acquired Toronto-based PinPoint, which collected real-time location information on trucks and mobile workers, for $15 million in 2018. In 2022, Descartes acquired NetCHB for $38.7 million USD, Foxtrot for $4.2 million USD, and XPS Technologies for $61.1 million USD. The company continued the spree in 2023 by nabbing Arizona-based Supply Vision for $12 million USD and Minnesota-based GroundCloud for $138 million USD.
Feature image courtesy David Vives via Unsplash.