Surfing firm Surfstitch buys Magicseaweed

Magicseaweed's website has forecasts from 4,000 beaches around the world

Devon-based surfing goods and forecasting firm Magicseaweed has been bought by an Australian company as part of a £7m deal.

Magicseaweed, founded in 2002 in Kingsbridge, provides forecasting and live reporting of more than 4,000 beaches around the world.

Surfstitch purchased the firm as part of a combined deal that also includes surf magazine Stab.

Magicseaweed said it was "thrilled" as the deal would enable it to expand.

'Unique opportunity'

The firm employs 22 people in Kingsbridge, taking data from offshore weather buoys to forecast surfing conditions, along with allowing surfers to check conditions via web cameras on beaches.

"It's a unique opportunity to find the right balance of surf forecasting, inspirational content and product offerings to our global surf community and millions of users," said co-founder Ryan Anderson.

Justin Cameron, chief executive of Surfstitch, said: "We are excited to welcome Magicseaweed and Stab to the Surfstitch Group.

"These businesses share our enthusiasm and passion in the action sports and youth culture space, and are ideal partners to support Surfstitch's mission to become the global destination for action sports and youth lifestyle content and online retail."