RailCube strengthens position in North American freight railway software market through the acquisition of Spark TS

By joining forces with Spark TS, RailCube expands its presence across the North American railway market. This acquisition marks RailCube's first add-on acquisition since the start of its strategic partnership with Main Capital Partners ("Main") in 2023.

Spark TS, established in 2016, is the provider of Rail Tasker™ and related services for the railroad industry. Rail Tasker is a workforce safety, compliance, and drug and alcohol testing software that enables clients to achieve and maintain compliance with the United States Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) industry regulations. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota (United States), the company serves a broad customer base of around 100 railway undertakings, ranging from enterprise-grade Class I railroads (e.g., BNSF, Norfolk Southern, and CPKC) to railway holding companies and smaller short-line railroad operators across the United States.

Creating a global leader in the freight railway software market
Through the combination with Spark TS, RailCube establishes a global presence, serving clients across Europe, Australia, and North America with its comprehensive offering. Integrating RailCube’s end-to-end suite with Spark TS’s best-of-breed safety and compliance offering is expected to unlock significant cross-selling opportunities across the installed bases of both companies, further accelerating the growth for both organizations. The combined group will continue its customer-centric approach and focus on innovation to unburden railway undertakings and its employees across the globe.

Katie Inouye, Founder & CEO of Spark TS, is enthusiastic about the strategic and cultural match with RailCube: “Teaming up with RailCube is an important step forward for Spark TS. We share similar values and missions, with both organizations helping railroads automate and modernize their operations. This partnership allows us to combine our strengths, delivering additional value to railway undertakings – ultimately creating more efficient and safer workplaces. I am thrilled about the opportunities this brings for our clients and future innovative product solutions.”

Dennis Hendriksen, CEO of RailCube, foresees a fruitful partnership: “The acquisition of Spark TS is a strategic milestone for RailCube and our expansion into the North American market is a natural next step in our international growth ambitions. Thanks to the vast network, deep domain expertise, and the close client relationships of Katie and the team with their clients, we believe that together we can accelerate our growth ambitions in the North American market substantially. Meanwhile, the combination of our product RailCube and Spark TS’s best-of-breed Rail Tasker product will also further deepen our safety & compliance software capabilities, which is in high demand across our European client base as well. I am very much looking forward to collaborating with Katie and the broader Spark TS team.”

Sjoerd Aarts, Managing Partner at Main and Chairman of RailCube’s Supervisory Board, concludes: “We are very excited to support the RailCube team in their growth ambitions into the North American railway market. This has been a key goal from the outset of the collaboration between RailCube and Main. Through this strategic partnership, we are bringing together two highly complementary organizations and products, and establishing a unique proposition for railway undertakings, combining RailCube’s end-to-end suite with Spark TS’s best-of-breed safety & compliance expertise. We expect both organizations to benefit from each other’s networks, market knowledge and product expertise, which can be leveraged to accelerate the roll-outs of the RailCube and Rail Tasker products across North-America and European markets, respectively. We look forward to continuing to support RailCube in the execution of its international growth plans.”