Shell And Idekapital Invest $90MM in Kongsberg Digital

Shell Ventures and Idékapital have put up $90 million for Kongsberg Digital Holding, helping accelerate the future growth and development of the Kongsberg business. Following the additional investment, Kongsberg Digital is valued at $540 million post-money.

As an industrial software company, Kongsberg Digital is transforming how businesses design, operate, and maintain their assets by shaping how people work for a better tomorrow, Kongsberg said in its statement. Since its establishment in 2016, Kongsberg Digital has experienced substantial growth and established itself as the frontrunner in the digitalization of heavy asset industries with a strong focus on the energy, maritime, and renewable sectors, the company said.

Through the Industrial Work Surface, Kongsberg Digital offers its users an end-to-end experience with their industrial data, a place to plan, execute and close out their work all within one unified worksurface, it noted. Today, Kongsberg Digital serves some of the world's largest energy and maritime companies by creating crucial value for its industrial data from well to wake, it added.

The investment from Shell Ventures and Idékapital underscores a strong recognition of what has been achieved to date and is a major milestone for the organization, the company said. The new owner structure will support Kongsberg Digital's mission to enable smarter, safer, and greener operations across industries and at an even greater scale, it stated.

“As an industrial software company, Kongsberg Digital understands the value of digitalizing carbon-intensive industries by deploying new ways of working. This investment from Shell Ventures and Idékapital is a fantastic testimony to Kongsberg Digital’s unwavering commitment to making heavy-asset industries operate smarter, safer, and greener,” Shane McArdle, CEO of Kongsberg Digital, said.

“This financial support strengthens our ambitions for further growth, positioning us to become a significant global player with our technology and digital solutions for heavy-asset industries. I am very much looking forward to working alongside our new investors as we continue to scale globally and drive positive change in these industries. Our efforts to shape the future of work have been recognized and reinforced by this partnership,” McArdle added.

“Over the past year, Kongsberg Digital has signed several important contracts, confirming the position as the frontrunner in the industry,” Geir Håøy, CEO of Kongsberg, said.

“Recently two major enterprise agreements have been signed with Shell and Chevron to provide digital twins of their global assets portfolio. Today, Kongsberg Digital has gone live with assets across the globe and have more than 40,000 users of our digital solutions. Last year, in June 2022, Kongsberg Digital and MSC, the world's largest and most extensive container line, signed a contract for digitalizing MSC’s entire fleet of ~500 vessels. These are just some examples of contracts that confirm Kongsberg Digital’s position as the digital frontrunner,” Håøy added.

The investment news came on the same day that Kongsberg Digital secured a deal to start the digitalization of Odfjell Ship Management fleet using its digital logbook system. Kongsberg said that in order to optimize the crew’s efficiency and reduce administrative tasks, Odfjell Ship Management has started its digital voyage by installing Kongsberg Digital’s K-fleet digital logbook system.

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