“Pier to Pier” boat rental platform BoatBound is raising capital once again. This time the unique sharing site has selected SeedInvest to raise $1,500,000 in a Bridge Round crowdfunding offer. BoatBound also is an OurCrowd portfolio company having raised just shy of $1 million in 2014, an amount that was quickly augmented by Brunswick Corporation with a solid $2.5 million commit.
According to information available back in 2014, BoatBound has since jumped from $3.5 million in bookings to $25 million in “booking inquiries” since launch and $1.16 million in gross booking revenues year to date. The number of boats available to rent on the platform is over 10,000. While only operating in the US today, expectations are for the company to go global. BoatBound sees opportunity in the over 13 million registered boats in the US – most of which spend much of their time parked in a marina somewhere.
BoatBound offers boat owners a platform to monetize their boats when they are not in use. Pre-screened, qualified renters may surf the site to select a boat they want to use at a given price. Each rental incorporates comprehensive insurance as well as on-water towing (a nice thing to have). From ski boats to sailboats to posh yachts – BoatBound states its platform can completely offset the cost of ownership, if your boat is rented just a few times each month.
And what is in it for BoatBound? Well fees of course. Each BoatBound rental generates a 10% service fee to the boat renter (up from 5% last year). For boat owners, they have to kick in a bit more at 35% of each rental. Commercial boats may need to add an additional 5% booking fee.
A quick visit to the site shows a 122′ Oceanfast (named appropriately ‘Never Say Never’) for a mere $18,000 a day. The 18 grand does include a captain. Of course there are plenty of smaller deck boats and cruisers available for a couple hundred dollars per rental.
With an average rate of growth of over 80% in booking approvals, month over month for 2015, BoatBound may be onto something as the booming sharing economy moves out to sea.
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