Transport tech specialist Microlise Group is continuing on the acquisition trail after purchasing the assets and IP of K-Safe, parent company to the road safety products Flare and Flare Aware, for £140,000.

This latest acquisition follows the purchase of Vita Software for £2.06m in March last year, which the company said at the time was part of its wider acquisition plans, fuelled by funds raised by its IPO in 2021.

Microlise’s acquisition of Liverpool-based K-Safe is a part of a pre-pack deal forged after K-Safe called in administrators Begbies Traynor Group. The deal sees Microlise employ K-Safe’s two staff members and all customer contracts novated to the business. 

The purchase gives Microlise ownership of Flare, an award-winning platform with over 3.5 million regular users, which helps brands such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, as well as cyclists, motorcyclists and e-scooter riders, 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 the riders are safe whilst traveling on public roads.

Flare works with Flare Aware, a dynamic driver hazard warning system jointly developed with Microlise. This uses 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 and dynamic hazards such as cyclists and motorcyclists.

Announcing the acquisition Microlise said: ”The acquisition will allow 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, chief executive 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.”