Just a little over a year after raising £1,496,600 in funding through its previous Crowdcube round, the self-proclaimed Airbnb for boats, Borrow A Boat, has returned to the equity crowdfunding platform to raise an additional £1.5 million in funding. The company is currently offering 20.00% at a £6 million pre-money valuation through the campaign, which has so far secured more than £1.2 million in funding from over 150 investors.
As previously reported, the Borrow A Boat platform was launched in 2016 by boat enthusiasts and is described as a marketplace for boat charter worldwide that features peer-to-peer listings. The platform is currently listing more than 13,000 boats in around 32 countries and has seen between £300-400 gross profit on bookings. Borrow A Boat CEO and Founder, Matt Ovenden, stated during the first campaign:
“Our mission is to open up boating and make it more accessible and easier to access for the masses, by bringing more choice of boat and variety of locations to the charter market, as well as better value charters and ease of booking and going boating. We simultaneously want to help boat owners reduce the cost of boat ownership, by giving them the platform to list and charter their boats.”
Borrow a Boat also reported that it has achieved 300% annual growth in revenue to £146k in 2019 (P&L -£1.3m), with the total value of charters sold grown to £835,000 in the same period. The platform claims it is now prominent in the boating industry with three of the largest global boat charter fleets have now all listed on BaB including sailing yachts, catamarans, speed boats RIBs, canal boats and more.
“The global yacht charter market is projected to reach $25bn by 2027, yet research shows more people would get out on the water if it was more accessible. BaB makes it easier than ever for people to go boating and not only help bring the market together, but help grow it at the same time.”
Funds from the latest Crowdcube round will be used to continue the growth and development of the Borrow a Boat platform. The initiative will close mid-March.
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