Co-Founder Heather Thornton to Retire, Michael Stock to Become CEO

ADELAIDE, Australia & TORONTO: JAIX, a leading independent transport and logistics ERP software provider, today announced its acquisition by Arcadea Group, a preeminent, long-term investor in high-quality vertical software businesses. The partnership marks an important new chapter for JAIX, supporting the company’s continued product innovation, client success, and long-term growth across the Australian and New Zealand logistics and warehousing markets.

Founded in Adelaide in 1985 by Heather and Dick Thornton, JAIX has spent over 40 years building an enterprise grade, deeply integrated logistics management system. Today, JAIX provides a modular, cloud-hosted platform spanning freight, warehouse management, dispatch, finance, fleet management, workshop, client portals, and reporting. These solutions provide critical support to clients running complex and multi modal operations on a single, highly integrated system.

As part of this transition, Co-Founder and CEO Heather Thornton will retire from the business and Michael Stock, JAIX’s current COO, will be promoted to replace Heather as CEO. Michael began his career with JAIX in 2009 and rejoined the company in 2023, where he has helped drive continuous improvement, structural change, and scalability across the organisation. JAIX’s broader leadership team will continue to support the business through its next phase of growth. Mike Holmes, with 24 years of invaluable service to JAIX will continue to lead innovation as the Chief Product Officer.

“Heather has built a remarkable business over four decades, one defined by product depth, client trust, and genuine domain expertise in transport and logistics,” said Paul Yancich, Arcadea’s Co-Founder and Managing Director. “JAIX is exactly the kind of mission-critical solution we look to support for the long term. We are excited to partner with Michael and the broader team to build on that foundation and invest in JAIX’s next chapter.”

Heather Thornton said, “JAIX has been our life’s work, and I am incredibly proud of what our team has built. We have earned the trust of our clients by listening carefully and understanding the operational challenges they face every day. Our ongoing commitment to product development has ensured JAIX continues to evolve alongside our clients’ needs. With Michael’s leadership, supported by Arcadea, I am confident JAIX will embrace new technologies, accelerate development, and build on the strong foundations we have created. This is the right time and the right next step for JAIX, and I am confident it positions the business strongly for the future.”

Michael Stock added, “We have a strong platform, an exceptional team, and a loyal client base that relies on us every day. Our focus at JAIX will remain delivering practical innovation, deepening client partnerships, and continuing to build the leading transport and logistics ERP platform for the market. With Arcadea’s support, we are well positioned to invest for the long term while staying true to what has made JAIX successful.”

About Arcadea Group
Arcadea Group is a long-term investor in high-quality vertical software businesses. With a global mandate and permanent capital base, Arcadea partners with mission-critical software companies to help them grow over exceptionally long durations. Across transport, its recent investments have included FreightTracker (Australia) and PICit (Denmark) in container & terminals, Railroad Software (US) and ZEDAS (Germany) in rail, and Vellox Group in general aviation (Australia).

About JAIX
JAIX is a leading independent Australian transport and logistics ERP software provider. Founded in 1985, the company delivers modular, fully integrated cloud-hosted software solutions to transport logistics and warehousing operators across Australia and New Zealand. The business has built a strong reputation through long-standing client relationships, deep product configurability, and a highly specialised understanding of transport and logistics workflows.

Fonte: Business Wire