Purchase: Kraken Robotics at 9.47 CAD (average).
Significantly increased my position in Kraken due to its name and logo and a few other reasons.
In April 1918, the SS Frogner was sunk off the coast of England. Image from a KATFISH unit using SAS (synthetic aperture sonar) technology, which Kraken demonstrated in November to NATO navies for automatic deployment from an 11-meter TKMS ARCIMS drone boat (video / press release).
So far, a quite promising FOMO investment: 5 months have passed, and it’s in the green by about +60% (in euros), at its peak over +70%. The position, however, is almost negligibly small (1.3% due to the price increase). On the other hand, there has been no temptation to sell prematurely.
The recently announced acquisition (Covelya, Sonardyne) sounds extremely good. I’ve been slowly digesting what all the news means.
The thought arises that perhaps Kraken isn’t being sold off to Anduril or similar anytime soon. Geopolitically, among other things, this scenario sounds better to me. It could even grow into an independent defense prime over time. 
The CBC news clip mentioned above: Canada unveils ‘Build at Home’ defence industrial strategy*
The acquisition is immediately accretive. The combined company’s valuation multiples are significantly lower than Kraken’s have been until now. However, I’m not looking at them too closely right now. If the technical lead is real, then profitable growth will continue and likely accelerate. British owners would hardly have sold a highly profitable, strategically important, globally operating, unlisted quality company (Sonardyne was founded in the early 70s and is something of a standard in underwater positioning) to a hype-driven company more than half its size in terms of business, if there wasn’t substance behind Kraken’s hype.
Simon Partridge, Executive Chairman of Covelya:
We have mutually admired Kraken’s technology alongside its management team and believe this transaction is extremely beneficial to both companies.
My back-patter agrees
- Sonardyne (Covelya) is the ultimate “adult in the room”—a 50-year-old industry standard doesn’t accept $135M in Kraken stock as payment if they think the buyer is a bubble.
- You’re buying the “GPS of the ocean” that the industry (Anduril, Kongsberg) relies on for precision subsea navigation.
- The British “Five Eyes” clearance for this deal is the strongest non-financial validation Kraken could ever receive.
I understood that the commercial (non-military) side of Kraken’s business also gets a big boost from the acquisition. Covelya Group is already a global company with 12 operating locations (Europe, North and South America, Asia Pacific). I dug into a few sectors and players it has served so far.
- offshore energy (Equinor, Ørsted)
- oceanography & marine research (NOAA)
- hydrography & surveying (Fugro, Reach Subsea)
- subsea telecoms (SubCom)
- subsea construction (Subsea 7, Oceaneering)
In any case, I decided to join with a bit more substantial sums. I quadrupled the position with three equal purchases (last Thursday 9.70 CAD, Tuesday 9.50 CAD, and today 9.20 CAD). In Euro terms, the original FOMO stake almost sextupled. Kraken is now the third largest holding in the company’s portfolio with a 5.0% weighting (across all portfolios, the weighting increased from 0.8% to 3.2%).
I may continue buying if, for example, peace suddenly breaks out in the world and the stock dips. Or if everything dips further due to war, oil, and inflation.
I must admit that the outrageous social media hype around the stock has somewhat confused me. Perhaps I’m just not used to the North American vibe. 
On the other hand, the radio silence on this forum provides an interesting counterpoint (e.g., the dead company thread apart from my recent messages).