Company: Oceanskies, Voly
Business Type: Software Developer
UK & International Business Sales and M&A News
Voly, the software, payments and crew-services platform for the global superyacht industry, has acquired Oceanskies, the specialist yacht crew employment, payroll and registration business, with the aim of uniting yacht crew employment, payroll and compliance under one platform.
Founded in 2013 by Duncan Swanson, Adrian Ogier and Tom Becker, Oceanskies is a specialist provider of yacht and aircraft documentation, registration, and crew employment and payroll services, with offices in Guernsey, Jersey, Malta, the UK and Dubai.
In the area of maritime employment, Oceanskies supports yacht owners and managers with the provision of crew employment and payroll services, utilising its CrewOS and CrewMate™ App and administers the employment of approximately 5,000 crew across owners and management companies.
It also specialises in the registration of yachts of all sizes and all types, offering assistance with yacht registration, tonnage measurement survey, port agents and transfer of ownership.
Duncan Swanson, Co-Founder of Oceanskies, said:
“I am immensely proud of what my fellow directors, our team and I have built at Oceanskies over thirteen years. This feels like exactly the right moment to join a larger business. Our clients get the continuity and the specialist attention they have always had, and now the technology and investment to go with it.”
Duncan Swanson – Co-Founder of Oceanskies
Voly is the software, payments and crew-services platform for the global superyacht industry, purpose-built for the captains, crew, owners, family offices and management companies responsible for running the world’s yachts.
Combining multi-currency yacht accounting, treasury and regulatory reporting, integrated global payments and foreign exchange, charter and APA administration, refit and project management, and crew employment, payroll and compliance in a single platform, Voly gives management companies the tools to enhance their own proposition to owners.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered near Manchester in the UK, with offices in Guernsey, Southampton, Malta, Barcelona and Fort Lauderdale, Voly technology is used on more than 1,700 vessels worldwide and the group employs a team of over 200 people. Voly is backed by private equity firm Magenta Partners.
Ian Flanagan, Founder and Chief Executive of Voly, commented:
“We have long admired what Duncan and the Oceanskies team have built. Their expertise in crew employment, payroll and registration is exceptional, and they join a Voly Crew team that already carries decades of experience. Between us, I do not believe there is better knowledge anywhere in yachting.
“Together we can build on the foundations Voly Crew and Oceanskies have each laid and move a great deal faster than either of us could alone.”
Ian Flanagan – Founder and Chief Executive of Voly
This is the fourth acquisition by Voly since 2023, following Pinpoint Works (February 2023), Voyonic Crewing, now Voly Crew (September 2024) and Workrest (December 2024), taking the number of crew administered under the Voly umbrella beyond 10,000.
Flanagan continued:
“Nothing changes for Oceanskies’ clients today. What changes is what becomes possible tomorrow — crew employment and registration expertise backed by a genuine technology platform, and one company that an owner or manager can hold accountable for the whole experience rather than one slice of it.
“This is another step in consolidating a fragmented industry into one dashboard and one solution that serves every part of the yachting ecosystem. We have further acquisitions in the pipeline, and the goal has not changed: one login, backed by great people and deep domain expertise, is exactly what this market needs.
“With more than 10,000 crew now administered under the Voly umbrella, continued investment in our crew solutions, in time, people and money, is an absolute priority,”
Ian Flanagan – Founder and Chief Executive of Voly
Magenta Partners is a UK private equity firm investing in small and mid-sized businesses. It acquired its controlling interest in Voly in February 2021 and has supported each of the group’s subsequent acquisitions.
Tom Matthews, Partner at Magenta Partners, concluded:
“Voly is a category leader in a vertical that is mission-critical, highly regulated and still remarkably under-served by technology. This is the fourth acquisition we have supported since investing, and the pattern each time has been the same: a well-run specialist business, a clear product fit, and an integration playbook that works.
“Oceanskies is the most significant of the four. It brings a high-quality recurring revenue base, deepens an already strong position in crew services, and takes Voly close to a proposition no competitor in yachting can match.”
Tom Matthews – Partner at Magenta Partners
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