Liverpool tech platform Flare has been acquired out of administration by a listed Nottingham company.
Microlise Group plc, which develops SaaS-based transport technology solutions for fleet operators, announced the acquisition of the assets of K-Safe Limited, parent company to the road safety products Flare and Flare Aware, for a total consideration of £140,000.
The acquisition is a part of a pre-packaged deal following the appointment of Begbies Traynor Group Limited.
Flare co-founder CEO Kirk Ryan left the company after eight years in November. Microlise said K-Safe’s two remaining staff members will be employed into its business, with all customer contracts being novated.
Flare has over 3.5 million regular users, helping leading brands such as Deliveroo, Just Eat as well as two-wheeled vehicles – cyclists, motorcyclists, e-scooters – to better understand and react to mobility risk and safety issues.
The mobile app delivers users incident detection, incident avoidance, SOS and hazards functionality, to ensure they are safe whilst travelling on public roads.
Flare Aware is a dynamic driver hazard warning system, jointly developed with Microlise, which utilises the data captured from the Flare mobile app user network, to provide awareness and alerts to the drivers of vehicles approaching fixed hazards such as low bridges, weight restrictions etc. and dynamic hazards such as cyclists and motorcyclists.
The acquisition will now enable Microlise to exclusively offer Flare Aware to its customers, with dynamic hazard warnings only being made possible due to the Flare mobile app user network.
This dynamic hazard solution, combined with the existing functionality of Microlise’s hazard warning product offering, creates a unique and attractive safety product for logistics operators, with Microlise customers already successfully trialling the product in operations and looking to roll out implementations.
Nadeem Raza, CEO of Microlise, commented: “We are excited to have acquired the assets of K-Safe, giving us exclusive access to the Flare and Flare Aware products. The Flare product also expands our market offerings to the fast-growing last mile solution space, and the 2-wheel vehicle space globally.”
Flare appeared on our TransportTech 50 rankings in 2021 and 2022.