Expanding family

Marine electronics giant Navico has added a Norwegian technology integrator to its array of marine electronics brands and invested in a custom boat developer.

11 January 2018

Marine electronics manufacturer and parent company to the Lowrance, Simrad and B&G brands, Navico has announced that it has acquired Yacht Defined, an international, award-winning, modern and user-friendly technology platform within navigation and digital switching systems. At the same time, Navico has made an investment into HOC Yachts, a start-up, high-tech custom boat designer that will be used to showcase Navico and Yacht Defined’s developments in marine electronics, digital switching, boat integration and connectivity.

Established in 2016, Yacht Defined offers boaters a user interface for driving, living aboard and owning a boat, with the goal of making boating as intuitive as driving a car. Acting as a central technology hub, the platform provides deep-system integration that delivers navigation display data optimisation, remote control of onboard systems and entertainment, and vessel-wide over-the-air system updates.

A designer of day cruisers and tenders, HOC Yachts was founded in 2014. Focused on elevating the user experience by producing boats that offer excellent ease of operation, HOC prides itself on innovative design, high quality components, and innovative technology. HOC Yachts’ day cruisers were launched internationally in 2017 at the Cannes Yachting Festival and Monaco Boat Show.

“We are pleased to welcome Yacht Defined and HOC Yachts to the Navico family,” said Leif Ottosson, Navico CEO. “Both of these companies are leading the system integration revolution with dedication to vessel connectivity and communication technologies, and ushering in a new age of unparalleled user experience. We look forward to merging their combined know-how with our Naviop digital control and monitoring systems, across our Lowrance, Simrad and B&G product offerings, to bring exciting new solutions to all aspects of the marine electronics marketplace.”

“For Yacht Defined and HOC Yachts, we believe Navico is the best industrial partner for the continued development of both our companies and validates that we have been successful in our efforts to drive innovation for the boating community,” said Håkan Lindström, co-founder of HOC Yachts.

“We look forward to fully starting commercialisation and collaboration efforts with Navico to continue developing new solutions for boaters,” added Vilhelm Djurberg, co-founder and CEO of HOC Yachts.

navico.com

yachtdefined.com

hocyachts.com