Masternaut

Masternaut
Private
Industry Telematics
Founded 1996
Founder Serge Deleau
Headquarters UK
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
  • Bill McHale (CEO)
Website Masternaut.com

Masternaut is a pan-European telematics company specialising in fleet and workforce management, asset tracking services and Microsoft CRM and ERP software. It has featured in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, a list of the fastest growing UK technology firms, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014.[1] In April 2011 Masternaut merged with former AIM-listed competitor Cybit, and is operating under the Masternaut name. The company is owned by Summit Partners and Fleetcor, following its acquisition from Francisco Partners in 2014.[2] Masternaut has over 500 employees, with offices in five different countries.

Masternaut and Cybit company history

Masternaut was founded in 1996 by Serge Deleau in France under the name SDM. It rebranded to Masternaut in 2001. In 2006, Masternaut acquired Three X, a mobile workforce software business, from GE.[3]

Previously a Masternaut competitor, AIM-listed Cybit acquired Thales Telematics from Thales Group[4] and public sector telematics specialist Amatics[5] in 2007. Cybit made a further acquisition in 2008 of Truck24, a German Telematics Logistics provider, for €4 million.[6] In 2009, private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired Cybit Holdings plc in a £23 million deal, taking the company private.[7] Cybit also acquired Oxloc, a specialist non-powered asset tracking devices provider, that year.[8] Meanwhile Masternaut was on the acquisition trail, signing hosting and data store company Fibre-City for £6 million.[9]

In 2011, Masternaut merged with Cybit in a £100m deal to create Europe's largest telematics solutions provider, with a 10,000-strong customer base spread across 32 countries.[10][11] Masternaut signed a partnership with Telefonica in 2012, estimated to be worth $910million between 2012–2020.[12] The company also appointed Martin Hiscox as chairman and CEO of Masternaut in the same year.[13] In 2014 Masternaut Group Holdings was sold by Francisco Partners to Summit Partners and Fleetcor Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Technology

Masternaut's solutions use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track a vehicle, employee or asset's location and transmit performance data in real time to Masternaut's data centre. This has a number of applications, such as fleet management, scheduling workforce management, fixed asset management and lone worker tracking. These can be integrated with back-office systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Goldmine, SAP and Oracle.

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Fast Track100". Sunday Times. 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "Telematics provider Masternaut bought by Summit Partners and FleetCor". Fleet News. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tracking move". Fleet News. 10 October 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Cybit acquires Thales Telematics". Computer Weekly. 16 February 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "Cybit acquires Amatics". Modern Utility Management. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "CybIT acquires TRUCK24 for total 4 mln euros". LSE. April 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Europe News: Francisco Clinches Cybit Deal". EBSCO Host. December 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  8. ↑ "Cybit acquires OxLoc". Manufacturing and Logistics IT. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "Europe News: Masternaut Three X acquires FibreCity for £6m". Telegraph. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "New tracking business formed in merger". Growth Business. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Chancellor backs UK grab for data analytics market". Telegraph. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "Need for revenue drives Telco M&A". Financial Times. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Hiscox appointed chairman and CEO of Masternaut". Fleet News. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2012.