Offshore survey specialist GEOxyz is making waves in autonomous maritime technology after acquiring dotOcean from Virya Energy, the renewable energy platform backed by retail giant Colruyt Group.
The deal formalises a long-standing partnership between the two Belgian ocean-tech players, wherein GEOxyz operates an extensive fleet of survey vessels and unmanned surface vessels (USVs), steered by dotOcean’s cloud robotics and autonomous control software.
“Our software has been powering GEOxyz’s USVs for years, providing a solid base to build upon,” shares Koen Geirnaert, CEO at dotOcean, which will join the GEO Group as a wholly owned subsidiary. The company will continue to navigate under its own brand as a specialised unit within GEOxyz, scaling applications related to USVs and offshore security through its expertise in cloud robotics, data intelligence and autonomous maritime systems.
“While maintaining our brand identity and innovative strength, we gain the ideal platform to accelerate the rollout of our technology,” Koen explains, adding that GEOxyz provides dotOcean with the operational scale and offshore experience required to deploy its cloud robotics technology on a significantly larger scale.
“For me, this is not simply about bringing two companies together. It is about combining complementary expertise and giving strong technology – and the people behind it – the scale and operational environment to go further,” says Patrick Reyntjens, CEO of GEOxyz.
“dotOcean brings exactly the kind of software architecture and defence expertise that aligns with our growth strategy: driving innovation, automation and robotisation across everything we do,” he adds.
By bringing dotOcean aboard, GEOxyz takes important steps in its technology roadmap, improves its internal engineering capabilities and enables the delivery of more reliable, data-driven, autonomous platforms.
With software development and real-world offshore execution now directly connected, the combined entity is set for smooth sailing across the offshore energy, maritime defence and infrastructure sectors.
