Garmin acquires Lumishore, a leader in marine LED lighting
Acquisition brings premium LED lighting solutions into Garmin’s product portfolio
OLATHE, Kan./October 22, 2024 — Garmin Ltd. (NYSE: GRMN) today announced it has acquired Lumishore, a privately-held company that designs and manufactures high-performance above and underwater LED lighting systems for boats.
Lumishore brings an exciting new product category that complements Garmin’s existing marine portfolio and furthers our ability to provide seamless vessel integration. As a technology leader in LED lighting, Lumishore will expand Garmin’s innovative solutions all around the vessel. Together, we look forward to delivering unmatched LED lighting technology to our customers around the world.
– Jarrod Seymour, Garmin Vice President, Marine Segment Leader
With over 15 years of experience, Lumishore offers premium LED lighting systems used on a variety of vessels from runabouts to superyachts. A trusted name in boat-wide LED systems, Lumishore offers a comprehensive range of single, dual and full-color change underwater and above-water lighting systems.
Since our founding, Lumishore has been passionate about creating innovative products that enhance the boating experience. Garmin shares our passion for serving the marine industry, making them an ideal company to carry Lumishore into the future. We look forward to a bright future working together as we continue to elevate the lighting experience for our customers.
– Eifrion Evans, Lumishore Founder and CEO
Lumishore is headquartered in Swansea, United Kingdom with a distribution center in Sarasota, Fla. A vertically integrated company with in-house R&D and production, its associates will become part of the global Garmin workforce. Financial terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.
Engineered on the inside for life on the outside, Garmin products have revolutionized the aviation, automotive, fitness, marine and outdoor markets. Dedicated to helping people make the most of the time they spend pursuing their passions, Garmin believes every day is an opportunity to innovate and a chance to beat yesterday. Visit the Garmin Newsroom, connect with @garmin on social, or follow our blog.
Related Posts:
Panbo publishes select press releases as a service to readers and the marine electronics industry. The release contents do not reflect the opinion of the editors and are not fact checked by the editors
Another one bites the dust….
Well, it’s not like Garmin bought a competitor and thus reduced our choices. There are still the same number of marine lighting companies out there and I’m guessing that Lumishore will remain a trail blazer in the field. I’ll add that the EOS surface mount coloring changing lights I installed on Gizmo’s stern about 10 years ago have held up fine, including one winter when the boat got iced in.
https://panbo.com/underwater-lights-lumishore-eos-blazes-trail/
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t their underwater lights require their command center? That is to say (with the exception of on/off control) you have to use Lumishore hardware to control the lights. I’d personally prefer simple RGBW wiring connection so I’m not locked into a particular manufacturer’s control system.
Hi Bob, One of the things I praised in that 2015 entry was how Lumishore “designed EOS using the bi-directional and open DMX512 RDM lighting standard” and I think they’ve developed integration with numerous other lighting control systems since.
https://www.lumishore.com/leisure-marine/lighting-control-systems
Ben, Thanks for the clarification . While my existing lights don’t use any protocol at all (basic 4 wire), its good to know if I changed them out for smarter lights I wouldn’t be specifically locked into Garmin/Lumishore for control
I wonder why Lumishore was favored by Garmin over some of the other well known lighting brands in the space..
I have no inside information, Michael, and one possibility is that Lumishore was the only marine lighting company for sale. Then again, I’ve long thought of Lumishore as a tech leader with quality products and leadership. I’ll add that I rate Lumitec similarly, and would be mildly concerned if Garmin bought them too, as that might stifle innovation a bit.
PS Soundings Trade recently had an interesting Q&A with Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble. There’s a lot about what they look for in acquisitions, and also some numbers indicating how large a share of the recreational marine electronics market they’ve accrued:
https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/post-type-feature/q-a-with-cliff-pemble1
itis a bit of a race between brunswick aquiring brands and garmin .. i would be curious to see what else is on the shopping list. lumishore hasnt been huge down here in australia with average distrubution, but this does make it a bit more interesting. kinda expected with a lighting controller coming out from garmin recently and with just RGBW speakers being the only illuminated things in their range. hmmm. BRP is selling up marine brands? maybe garmin will buy those 😛