SuperYacht Times acquires YachtEye

SuperYacht Times (SYT) has announced that it has acquired the YachtEye and VXcruise infotainment systems from Oculus Technologies.

The acquisition is in line with the vision of SYT to become the foremost technology and data-driven superyacht media and information company.

YachtEye is a unique visual infotainment platform for superyacht owners and their guests. The system intuitively shares valuable insights about the journey, the stay on board and the environment. Clients can interact with YachtEye via TV, touchscreens and iPads to discover more about the route highlights, itinerary, weather conditions, tender positions, the menu of the day and much more.

SuperYacht Times founder Merijn de Waard comments on the deal, “I have known the YachtEye system since the start as we shared one office with the founders and have provided yacht-specific data to the system for years. I see a great opportunity for SYT to enrich the system with our content, giving superyacht owners easy access to information on superyacht marinas, travel destinations, the latest superyacht news, market intelligence and much more”.

The acquisition comes simultaneously to the company making a key appointment in Peter Aarts, who will be joining the team as Operational Director. In his new role, Peter will assist Merijn with running the company and integrating the new software solutions into SYT. Peter is no stranger to YachtEye and VXcruise as he was the CEO of Oculus Technologies for three years.

Peter comments: “I feel privileged to join SuperYacht Times. Merijn has got a clear vision of where he would like to go with the company and I look forward to helping him to achieve these goals. With YachtEye as the company’s latest product, I feel great security that we will achieve great things!”

“Technology and data are playing an increasingly important role in the superyacht industry and SuperYacht Times is at the forefront of these developments. Since the company was established in 2005, we have built an unrivalled superyacht database and a bespoke system that powers all our solutions. We will continue to invest in technology and will make some more key appointments in the near future to join our growing team of 15 people in our Amsterdam office,” Merijn continues.

The company’s first priority is to work together with all existing clients and partners of YachtEye and VXcruise to make sure that all systems are running smoothly. The existing SYT API that provides yacht-specific details will remain active and we are already making plans to increase the data from the SYT iQ intelligence platform.

In addition, plans are being made to integrate the latest SuperYacht Times news and The SuperYacht Times newspaper into YachtEye so it can be offered onboard the 70+ superyachts who already have YachtEye on board. Some of the most well known and largest yachts in the world have YachtEye on board, including 72m Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak, 110m Lürssen Radiant, 54m ISA Yachts Forever One, 74m Amels Plvs Vltra, and many others.

SuperYacht Times will also continue to develop the VXcruise solution which is already on board some of the most prestigious new cruise ships. “The cruise ship market is going through a lot of development and we are seeing smaller and more luxurious cruise ships that come closer to the yacht market. We are convinced that these small luxurious cruise ships will have a positive effect on the superyacht market and with VXcruise we have access to a large audience of future yacht charter clients and buyers", concludes Peter Aarts.

For any questions, please contact Peter Aarts (peter@superyachttimes.com) or Merijn de Waard (merijn@superyachttimes.com).