Bregal Milestone, a European software growth private equity firm, which recently became a major shareholder in Estonian company Ridango, announced that the company will, with their support, acquire the Irish software company uTrack. The merger of the two companies will drive strategic advancement.
“The acquisition of uTrack represents a strategic leap forward for Ridango. By combining our strengths and complementary services, we will deepen Ridango’s automatic vehicle location (AVL) and analytics capabilities and significantly strengthen our position in key global markets,” said Erki Lipre, Founder and CEO at Ridango.
Founded in 2011 by Eamonn Hughes and Conor Gildea, uTrack is a Dublin-headquartered software company providing a public transport data platform with a real-time analysis and predictive engine that feeds a suite of software services that annually supports nearly 3 billion passengers, over 5 million app users, 150 000 drivers and 73 000 vehicles.
Ridango’s and uTrack’s expertise will foster innovation
uTrack‘s clients include some of the largest urban bus, intercity coach, and school transport providers across Ireland, the UK, and North America. The company’s range of SaaS products supports operational processes in a public transport organisation, offers mobile tools for a largely remote frontline workforce, and provides good service for passengers.
The acquisition of uTrack will aim to strengthen Ridango’s offerings by increasing capabilities for long-distance and school transport operators, expanding its presence in Western Europe and the US, and broadening its AVL product offering, particularly for the student and driver customer groups.
Ridango is the software operating system of choice for public transportation providers globally, specializing in automated fare collection (AFC), real-time passenger information systems, automatic vehicle location tracking (AVL), and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) technology. The company partners with transport authorities and operators to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability of public transit for customers and operators alike.
The combined expertise of Ridango and uTrack will help further accelerate innovation with real-time connectivity, data-driven insights, and route optimisation, driving greater efficiency and improved experiences for both customers and operators.
The partnership boosts transit tech in Europe and North America
“We identified uTrack as a compelling strategic fit for Ridango given their software platform, loyal and recurring customer base of market-leading institutions, and complementary geographic presence, which made it a natural fit for the Ridango ecosystem. We’re excited to support this combination as it unlocks meaningful synergies and accelerates growth across both platforms,” said Cyrus Shey, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Bregal Milestone.
“Joining forces with Ridango is an exciting milestone for uTrack. From day one, our mission has been to enhance the passenger and operator experience through technology. Partnering with Ridango allows us to accelerate that mission and scale our impact across Europe and North America while continuing to innovate with a shared vision for smarter, more sustainable transit,” added co-founders of uTrack, Eamon Hughes and Conor Gildea.
The terms of the uTrack transaction were not disclosed and are conditional upon the completion of the Ridango transaction.
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