Earlier this week, Bellevue, Wash.-based Seagull Software, a provider of label management software for designing, printing, and automating the production of labels, barcodes, and RFID tags, announced that it has merged with Boca Raton, Fla.-based Mojix, a provider of item-level inventory management and traceability services. Seagull’s proprietary label management software, called BarTender, will now integrate with Mojix’s platform.
Both Seagull and Mojix are owned by Peak Rock Capital, a private equity firm with offices in Austin, Texas, and London, England. According to Seagull, this merger had been in the works for several months.
Seagull explained that combining its BarTender labeling technology with Mojix’s real-time intelligence and data platform will enable the company to enhance how shippers manage their supply chains, integrating product labeling with end-to-end, item-level traceability.
Furthermore, Seagull added that the merger will allow it to leverage BarTender’s global customer base and value-added channel partner network, which includes more than 250,000 Mojix customers in 175 countries currently using Mojix’s advanced cloud-based SaaS platform. The goal is to “deliver innovative traceability solutions.”
“By integrating Mojix’s advanced traceability and data platform with Seagull’s powerful BarTender labeling software, we are able to provide our customers with value-added solutions for compliance, sustainability, serialization, and inventory and asset management across the supply chain ecosystem,” said Chris Cassidy, newly appointed Chief Revenue Officer of Seagull, in a statement. “Going forward, our customers will have access to an end-to-end traceability solution that captures data at every touchpoint, offering unmatched product visibility for a variety of use cases.”
Seagull’s Cassidy provided LM with a detailed overview of the merger in a Q&A below.
LM: What drove the need for Seagull and Mojix to merge?
Cassidy: The dynamics for a merger had been recognized for some time. For instance, when we were working with Chipotle and several other clients in the food and retail industries, we kept encountering BarTender software. It became clear that integrating our systems with Mojix’s platform would make sense. Seagull’s innovative BarTender software, which simplifies and accelerates data collection and real-time tracking, combined with Mojix’s expertise in providing end-to-end business intelligence for supply chains, seemed like a win-win for customers seeking true end-to-end visibility. By combining our strengths, Seagull and Mojix can offer a cloud-based integrated solution that helps more than 250,000 global businesses of all sizes manage their operations and supply chains.
LM: Did the companies have a previous relationship? If so, what was it?
Cassidy: We did not have a formal relationship prior to this, but we had been integrating our Mojix clients who used suppliers that printed labels with BarTender. As I mentioned earlier, we kept encountering the need for a partnership.
LM: What are the main benefits of this merger for Seagull’s and Mojix’s customers?
Cassidy: Mojix is a data-capture point event data company in the cloud that specializes in item-level traceability and visibility. Initially, we focused on RFID-based mass scanning, but two years ago, we realized we could expand to serialized item-level tracking for compliance with Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) 204 and Digital Product Passport requirements for luxury retail in Europe, using 2-D barcodes and QR codes. We transitioned to becoming “Data Carrier Agnostic” with a strategy focused on verticals such as industrial, manufacturing, consumer packaged goods (CPG), food, and retail—sectors that are increasingly moving toward compliance and regulatory requirements.
LM: Can you please provide a brief/basic example of how the BarTender software works?
Cassidy: BarTender is a highly flexible artwork labeling design software tool and the largest printer driver API catalog in the world, printing more than 100 billion labels across 250,000 customers in various industries. It’s used in manufacturing and distribution processes globally. By integrating Mojix’s cloud strategy to capture label data at the point of creation (i.e., printing), we now have a better item-level traceability solution. We can add additional data elements, which is a growing requirement for manufacturers in several verticals. In addition, Seagull benefits from Mojix’s cloud platform, creating a value-added solution that differentiates it from the competition.
Mojix also benefits by gaining access to provide its data capture solution for many use cases—authentication, traceability, inventory, and asset management—to Seagull’s BarTender software clients. We see mutual growth through this merger for both companies.
