Albertus "AJ" Smith (TradeWindow)
NZX-listed trade tech company TradeWindow has inked a conditional agreement to buy the business and assets of Auckland-based Rfider,
Rfider develops a mobile interface that can be rapidly deployed in complex supply chains to capture many points of data. It will help TradeWindow extend its reach deeper into primary industry supply chains by providing traceability all the way back to the points of cultivation and production.
The maximum purchase price is $10 million and the final purchase price will be proportional to the achievement of an aggregate $4.22 million in revenue over the two year period.
TradeWindow CEO AJ Smith said the acquisition significantly enhanced TradeWindow’s existing provenance solution, with its impressive user experience and broader target market.
“We are excited by the synergies. Rfider’s functionality will strengthen TradeWindow’s offer for our customers who compete on transparency of origin, ethical practices, sustainability and quality," Smith said.
"It also broadens our offerings to our customers beyond the export operations team to help solve broader issues of concern to the marketing team, and senior management/board with respect to marketing claims of sustainability and verification for ESG reporting."
A skilled team and customers from Australasia, Europe, USA and South America will come across as part of the acquisition to significantly accelerate TradeWindow’s penetration of the traceability market.
The deal would give TradeWindow positive exposure to an estimated $16.8 billion worldwide market opportunity for food traceability.
“We are proud of the progress we have made actualising traceability across global supply chains right down to the individual item level," said Rfider founder and CEO John Pennington, who will join TradeWindow as an employee.
"Combining our FDA award winning solution with TradeWindow will see our combined customers served with an even stronger solution."
Pennington, who established Deloitte Digital in New Zealand, has also worked with the Boston Consulting Group and Apple.
Last year, Rfider’s interoperable food traceability solution was a winner of the US FDA’s 2021“New Era of Smarter Food Safety Low- or No-Cost Tech-enabled Traceability Challenge”.
Rfider is owned by Pennington, chairman Bruce Gordon and K1W1, among others.
The acquisition will be the first by TradeWindow since listing on NZX in late November 2021 but follows earlier acquisitions of Prodoc, IVS Origin, Cyberfreight, Freight Legend and SpeEDI aimed at consolidating a fragmented sector.
