Japanese shipping firm NYK acquires Kadmos, a salary payment platform for seafarers

Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, or NYK Line, is acquiring Germany's salary payment platform for seafaring workers, Kadmos, as it seeks to further expand the reach of its fintech services in the maritime sector.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition deal, which is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.
MIT alumni Justus Schmueser and Sasha Makarovych founded Kadmos in 2021, aiming to provide businesses, including shipowners and ship management companies, with affordable and transparent options for transferring salaries internationally, specifically for seafaring workers.
In 2019, NYK launched a financial services platform called MarCoPay in Manila, the Philippines, offering loans and insurance for Filipino seafaring workers and their families. Since then, it has collaborated with shipowners and ship management companies, and has even acquired an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) license from the Philippine central bank.
NYK approached Kadmos for the acquisition in line with its plan to grow its digital payment business beyond the Philippines. It plans to incorporate the Kadmos platform into MarCoPay, providing payroll solutions to seafaring workers of all nationalities.
'Our plan is to leverage Kadmos' global reach and coverage while using advantages that MarCoPay has in the Philippines,' Makarovych told TechCrunch. 'Beyond that, we are planning to use the NYK brand and reputation to grow faster in shipping and sign customers quicker – they are a widely respected brand globally recognized by the whole industry.'
Kadmos also plans to expand its capabilities beyond payroll to offer cross-border B2B payments and corporate cards. The company intends to expand its remit to also service the cruise industry, and wants to offer additional financial services for shipping companies and seafarers through a partnership with NYK, Makarovych added.
Makarovych said Kadmos' team will stay with the company, with slight adjustments to the management structure.
There are several digital payment platforms available for maritime companies, such as MarTrust, ShipMoney and Brightwell.
Makarovych, however, thinks Kadmos stands apart thanks to its end-to-end reach, listing as examples its features that let companies operate completely cashless on vessels, including virtual point-of-sale devices and peer-to-peer transfers.
'Our cards are non-personalized and have the widest acceptance, which allows companies to roll out Kadmos to their ships very quickly without complicated card logistics,' Makarovych said. 'Kadmos pricing is built in an extremely flexible way, allowing companies to cover fees for their crew in a very personalized way while staying compliant with regulations by the Maritime Labor Convention — our competition simply charges a monthly SaaS fee.'
Kadmos most recently raised a $29.5 million Series A round in 2022. The round brought Kadmos' total capital raised to $38 million. It now has more than 40 enterprise customers.

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