Garmin Acquires ActiveCaptain

[CurrentSea]

I take it Jeff Siegel just became a very wealthy person!!

Navigation company Garmin has acquired marine database Active Corporation for an undisclosed sum.

Active has created ActiveCaptain, a 250,000-member community of boaters who provide crowdsourced data on waterways throughout the U.S.

The deal provides Garmin with a unique asset on which to capitalize in its marine navigation ambitions.

Quick Take

Navigation technology company Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) announced that it has acquired Active Corporation for an undisclosed amount.

Active runs the ActiveCaptain community of 250,000+ boaters that provide crowdsourced information on U.S. marine waterways and facilities.

The two parties had previously integrated their offerings, so the deal presents minimal integration risk and provides Garmin with a unique high-value asset to build its marine navigation offerings.

Target Company

Castine, Maine-based Active Corporation was founded by Karen and Jeffrey Siegel to provide boaters and marine software developers with marine point-of-interest data.

 

[Audrey II]

Good for Jeff! He seemed like a nice guy I have spoken to him a couple of times on line.

 

[nyc_bob]

Wow.
I wonder how this will affect future integration with other brands of electronics.

 

[CurrentSea]

I imagine they will need to license from Garmin.

I also have spoken to Jeff, pretty amazing story.
Think about it, its like a facebook for boaters.
He started the platform, the rest is contributions from people who work for free.

I know he recently changed boats to, Redhead, and continues to cruise.
Who wouldn't want his life!
Now he has unlimited funds I assume to do it.
Gotta imagine he got 8 figures, I bet somewhere around $15 Million if i had to take a guess.
Not like AC had a large revenue stream, but rather it was a draw for equipment.
I don't know Jeff's model, but I am sure it is a licensing model and that works well.

 

[PascalG]

I ve been using AC pretty much since the beginning, must have been 2009 or 2010 and have put in thousands of updates and markers over the years

I m glad for Jeff that his vision paid off. I ve read some pretty stupid comments on the AC Facebook page since this was announced yesterday from garmin haters who claim it s the end of AC... I seriously doubt Jeff sold his baby without guarantees that the data will remain accessible to all.

 

[pdecat]

The history of acquisition of small companies by larger ones is not good

 

[JVM225]

That should make for a great combo.
I had Garmin on my old boat and loved it. I used active Captain for info all the time.
My new boat has a fairly new Raymarine electronics and I got a new Navionics chart card to use with it and although I've only had it for a short time I already see that I don't like that combo nearly as much as I liked my Garmin.
Garmin is more user friendly and has great customer service.
Raymarine is way more complicated and customer service is terrible. Navionics customer service isn't too great either.