SilverRail Acquires Linkon

SilverRail Technologies has acquired Linkon, a rail technology company powering the Swedish rail market with solutions ranging from inventory hosting through to mobile ticketing.

SilverRail says the acquisition will accelerate its ability to innovate the way rail is accessed and sold across the globe and improve the way the rail industry competes with regional air travel.

"Linkon is a great fit for us," said Aaron Gowell, SilverRail's co-founder and CEO. "Our global rail search and transaction platform is revolutionary for the industry, but our ability to innovate is often constrained by the limitations of the underlying rail operator systems. Linkon brings us direct access to one of the most forward-looking rail markets in the world. As a combined force, we'll be able to deliver a world class customer-centric ecommerce experience for global rail travel."

Linkon provides a comprehensive IT platform for rail operators including an inventory management system, settlement capability and an innovative ticketing system, with support for both m-tickets and e-tickets. 85% of all rail tickets in the Swedish market are currently delivered via mobile, the highest rate of mobile ticketing in the global travel market.

SilverRail is acquiring 75% of the business with current owners, SJ, the Swedish national rail carrier, retaining 25%. SilverRail will be retaining the full Linkon team and offices in Stockholm and Norrköping, Sweden.

The acquisition means SilverRail is now a 200 strong company with offices in London, Boston, Brisbane, Stockholm and Norrköping.

"There has never been more growth or investment in global rail, but it is still extremely difficult to search for and book rail travel. Until it is as simple and easy to book a rail trip as it is to book a flight, the rail industry will not realise its full potential," Gowell added. "Combining Linkon's expertise from the rail operators' perspective with our own strong track-record working in a global market place makes SilverRail extremely well placed to solve this challenge."

Aaron Gowell and Will Phillipson founded SilverRail in 2009 with the vision of connecting every major rail carrier in the world and transforming search and ticketing. Today, the SilverRail platform is connected to markets accounting for $60bn in rail transactions throughout North America and Europe and is now looking to move into Asia, with the goal of having all major global rail carriers integrated over the coming years.