Electric boats and boat sharing are in the air, but many shipwrecks, and boaters have to be careful.
Comment by editor-in-chief Ole Henrik Nissen-Lie
Recently Båtmagasinet was able to tell that the electric boat manufacturer Green Waves had taken the difficult path to the bankruptcy court. The company had then tried to raise fresh money for its vision of electrifying the boat market.
Green Waves thus follows in the wake of a number of start-up companies that have failed in their venture into the new boating life after raising money from investors. Last year it was Kruser who had to throw in the towel with a total loss of over ten million kroner after several rounds of issues. Nor is Freepower a sunny story. 153 public investors had to see their savings lost when the company that was supposed to build solar-powered boats pulled the plug last autumn.
The list is long. Wavefoil was supposed to develop foils that cut fuel use, but failed to make money. After launching with a bang last year, Frydenbø has now put the big investment in electric Ripple Boats on hold.
The vision of electric boats and boat sharing is enticing, but currently not very profitable. In recent years, there has been a great uproar around green initiatives throughout society. Many have lost money on rosy expectations, and some have made money selling castles in the air. We remember Nidelv luring Norwegian investors with China dreams of millions of profits before the company was declared bankrupt a number of years ago.
For small companies, so-called online crowdfunding services have provided new access to capital. Here, people can invest their savings in good business ideas. Now it is the start-up company Ship O’Hoi that is out at Folkeinvest to raise money for a new boat-sharing service.
The young cohabiting couple Håkon Mathiesen and Helene Evensen tell Finansavisen that they got the idea on a hot summer’s day when they saw all the boats in the harbor, and calculated a rental market for private boats in Norway of NOK 90 billion. Now they want to raise NOK ten million, and price themselves at NOK 60 million, according to the article.
We do not want to take away young people’s enthusiasm, but can remind you that for ten years, Danish Boatflex has pumped many millions of kroner into exactly the same business idea in Norway and Denmark, without success. Now they are betting instead on the charter market in the Mediterranean. Skipperi is a large Nordic operator that invests in both private hire and rental fleets with Yamaha at its back, and almost NOK 150 million in funding.
Internationally, there are already a number of boat sharing services modeled after Airbnb. French Clickandboat has a fleet of 41 private boats in Norway, and here at home Hygglo, among others, offers private hire of several hundred small and large boats. There are also boats for rent on Airbnb.
Electric boats and boat sharing are undoubtedly a growing market, and Båtmagasinet cheers for those who take the plunge, but it’s not just in boats that you have to be careful.
There are always reefs in the sea.
