PTV Group has bought Belgian route planning Software as a Service provider Conundra to grow its logistics offering.
It is the company's third acquisition this year, following Econolite and Axylog.
"Combining Conundra’s state-of-the-art SaaS product with PTV’s software solutions for route planning and optimisation will open new opportunities for innovation and growth," PTV says in a statement.
No financial details of the acquisition have been disclosed.
Christian Haas, CEO of PTV, called Conundra a "dynamic, fast-growing" company.
The growth of e-commerce has certainly highlighted the need for efficient route planning, with the freight forwarding market's value estimated to increase to €207 billion by 2025.
"By bringing their technologies together, PTV Group and Conundra will create a strong, new logistics division and expand their leading market position by tackling a larger part of the logistics value chain," PTV's statement adds.
"This will further accelerate PTV Group’s SaaS product offering and keeps it ahead of the market in terms of algorithm quality. The new logistics division will serve a broader customer base and offer both existing PTV and Conundra customers improved algorithms and data as well as additional use cases to enhance savings in costs and emissions."
Conundra founders Steven De Schrijver and An De Wispelaere add that they were "impressed by the maturity and global reach" of PTV's organisation and team.
"Being able to infuse their state-of-the-art software and map technologies with Conundra’s unprecedent algorithmic power, unlocks a great opportunity to make a true dent in the logistics universe, both ecologically and economically,"
Carsten Kratz, partner and head of Dach at Bridgepoint (which has a majority stake in PTV), said: “Going forward, it will remain our ambition to build two distinct market leaders – one in intelligent traffic simulation and management, and one in logistics route optimisation – by further enhancing both the mobility and logistics businesses.”
