Garmin Ltd. said today that it acquired Active Corp., the developer of crowdsourcing boating platform ActiveCaptain.
ActiveCaptain is a community-based, electronic marine database that contains near real-time information about marinas, anchorages, local points of interest and marine hazards — most of which is user-generated — for cruising and sailing destinations around the world.
The database has more than 250,000 users and can be accessed via web browser or a variety of mobile applications.
The transaction was so new that Garmin hadn’t yet determined how exactly ActiveCaptain will integrate with Garmin products, said Garmin spokeswoman Carly Hysell.
“There are no plans at this time to change the way that ActiveCaptain is distributed or used,” Hysell told Trade Only Today. “It’s a healthy platform, so right now it’s just business as usual. We’re excited to make it more integrated into our product line going forward.”
The company also wants to make sure ActiveCaptain is “just as useful for European customers” as it is in the United States, Hysell said.
“There is really nothing else out there that compares to the depth and breadth of the ActiveCaptain database,” Garmin president and CEO Cliff Pemble said in a statement. “Mariners rely on ActiveCaptain to make their voyages better informed and more enjoyable, and we are delighted to add this technology to the Garmin portfolio.”
The founders and sole employees of ActiveCaptain, co-owners Karen and Jeffrey Siegel, will become employees of Garmin International and will “continue to lead the efforts to build and develop the product and platforms for the foreseeable future,” Hysell said.
“Garmin is a technology leader among boaters of all types, and we are looking forward to working with them to make ActiveCaptain even more robust and global,” Jeffrey Siegel said. “Garmin has extensive engineering and cartography capabilities that will allow ActiveCaptain to be deeply integrated into their product offerings.”
Financial terms of the acquisition will not be released.
