Halma acquires Kitchener-based Deep Trekker

Halma, the global group of life-saving technology companies, has acquired Deep Trekker Inc., based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Deep Trekker is highly aligned to Halma’s purpose of growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day. Its submersible robots protect and maintain critical infrastructure, including offshore wind farms and aquaculture, as well as empower ocean science and research. This advanced underwater monitoring technology helps to ensure a cleaner environment while improving the safety of underwater inspections.

Halma is a global group of technology companies. Composed of nearly 50 companies, they provide innovative products and services that help solve many of the key problems facing the world today.

Halma employs over 7,000 people in more than 20 countries, with major operations in the UK, Mainland Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific. Halma is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100. The organization’s purpose is to grow a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day.

The three broad market areas where Halma operates:

• Safety: protecting life as populations grow and urbanize, and protecting worker safety.
• Environment: improving food and water quality, and monitoring air pollution.
• Health: meeting rising health care demand as growing populations age and lifestyles change.

Deep Trekker’s growth is underpinned by global efforts to address climate change and pollution, including the fast-growing renewable energy sector and more sustainable fishing practices. Deep Trekker ROVs play an integral role in submersible inspection technology, offering a wide range of models to suit varying industries. For Halma, this acquisition broadens their market presence in environmental monitoring and adds new capabilities within underwater inspection.

After joining the Halma family, Deep Trekker will continue to be managed as a standalone company and will become part of Halma’s Environmental & Analysis sector.

Noted as one of the UK’s most admirable companies, Halma believes in allowing businesses to govern themselves, while empowering them with global knowledge sharing. Becoming part of this international network opens up limitless opportunities in new and existing industries.

Andrew Williams, Group Chief Executive of Halma, said: “Deep Trekker is an exciting addition to Halma, which is highly aligned with our purpose, both in terms of helping to ensure a cleaner environment, and in improving the safety of underwater inspections. It offers new opportunities for growth in several markets, driven by increasing health, safety and environmental regulation, and global efforts to address climate change, waste and pollution.”

“We are excited to be joining the Halma family”, said Deep Trekker President Sam Macdonald. “We are known for our innovative solutions and exceptional customer service; becoming a part of an international group of like-minded companies will ensure that we can continue to bring sophisticated systems to our growing markets.”

Starting as a hobby project to retrieve a lost flashlight from the depths of Lake Ontario, Deep Trekker was founded on the ideology of creating a safer way to explore the Earth’s waterways. From the humble beginnings of a college project and bathtub testing, the first ever DTG2 was born. After the initial design, the next few years were spent getting commercial ready and identifying all the modern problems which could be met with the DTG2.

Listening to the voices of employees and customers has always been at the forefront of Deep Trekker’s mission. “From the very beginning of Deep Trekker… we’ve tried over the past decade to allow people to let their expertise and ideas be heard, and I truly believe that has allowed us to make the innovations and the quality products that we have today” says Macdonald. After the initial splash in the ROV industry, Deep Trekker moved into their first facility in 2013. It was there that the larger DTX2 and brand new DT340 CCTV Pipe Crawler were first created.

After these initial releases, it quickly became apparent that the need for portable robotic solutions was extensive. Within two years, the Deep Trekker team moved again into a larger facility, where they rapidly expanded their lineup to include multiple ROVs, pipe crawlers, and utility crawlers. Constantly adapting to fit the needs of their customers, Deep Trekker’s robots now have numerous add-ons to fit the specific needs across each core industry.

Today, Deep Trekker resides in their brand new office in Kitchener, ON, renowned for being the tech hub of Canada. Employing nearly 100 staff, the company not only takes pride in their quality engineering, but also the next-level customer care that each department provides across the organization. Macdonald states, “We’re all working together to do what’s right by our customer.” Each product that leaves Deep Trekker is rigorously tested before reaching the customer’s hands, while the diligent sales, service, and training teams provide continued support along the way.