This funding round has closed
The new comprehensive boat charter booking website with peer-to-peer boats
156% of minimum goal raised
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Lead investor: Richard Smart |
Minimum Target £ 48,000 |
Minimum investment amount £ 50 |
Maximum Target £ 149,984 |
Maximum investment amount £ 150,000 |
Borrow a Boat is the new boat charter website with extensive peer-to-peer listings and charter boat listings. The company appeared at the London Boat Show in January 2017 to an overwhelmingly positive response from customers and industry and is taking bookings, a large number of enquires from customers and boat owners who want to list. It has been appearing in a number of industry press articles. Borrow a Boat gives customers more choice, better value, and more locations in a one-stop shop website. Shareholders will benefit from a 10% reduction in charter fees on any of Borrow a Boat’s 4000+ boats for as long as they’re a shareholder up to the value of £1000 in total.
Borrow a Boat has a vision to connect the two frustrated groups via an online marketplace – the disenfranchised boat owners considering selling their boat, and the would-be boater who just can’t find what they want when they want to go boating. Borrow a Boat want to offer maximum choice – “all types of boat in all locations” is the vision, to combine peer-to-peer boats with charter boats, and list everything together.
In the long term, there is a significant opportunity to disrupt the yacht charter market which is worth £35bn annually by providing a larger choice of boats, selling the charters direct over the internet and apps in an easy to book way with a lower cost of sales.
Boat owners are frustrated at the cost of ownership. Boat ownership is particularly unattractive financially compared to the ownership of a lot of assets – boats cost a lot upfront, cost a lot to moor, maintain and service, often have issues and depreciate. Marinas over the world are full of boats that rarely leave them.
Then there are the people who want to go boating, but find the upfront (and ongoing costs) prohibitive. They find it difficult to charter a boat, to find the one they want available for use near to them, to get enough information on it and book it. No-one is aggregating charter boats well and choice is very limited.
Borrow a Boat acts as an intermediary - creating the online marketplace and taking sales commission, usually between 15 - 20% on all bookings through the site. It is free for boat owners to list or charter companies and so far there has been huge interest. The biggest markets are the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and their opposite seasonality helps spread bookings over the year. 4000 boats are in these regions, plus the UK and Indian Ocean, and Pacific and Atlantic. There is a day boat and weekend boat market, as well as the holiday market, and Borrow-A-Boat is listing all kinds of boats for flexible durations in as many locations as possible.
Borrow a Boat has a vision to connect the two frustrated groups via an online marketplace – the disenfranchised boat owners considering selling their boat, and the would-be boater who just can’t find what they want when they want to go boating. Borrow a Boat want to offer maximum choice – “all types of boat in all locations” is the vision, to combine peer-to-peer boats with charter boats, and list everything together.
In the long term, there is a significant opportunity to disrupt the yacht charter market which is worth £35bn annually by providing a larger choice of boats, selling the charters direct over the internet and apps in an easy to book way with a lower cost of sales.
Boat owners are frustrated at the cost of ownership. Boat ownership is particularly unattractive financially compared to the ownership of a lot of assets – boats cost a lot upfront, cost a lot to moor, maintain and service, often have issues and depreciate. Marinas over the world are full of boats that rarely leave them.
Then there are the people who want to go boating, but find the upfront (and ongoing costs) prohibitive. They find it difficult to charter a boat, to find the one they want available for use near to them, to get enough information on it and book it. No-one is aggregating charter boats well and choice is very limited.
Borrow a Boat acts as an intermediary - creating the online marketplace and taking sales commission, usually between 15 - 20% on all bookings through the site. It is free for boat owners to list or charter companies and so far there has been huge interest. The biggest markets are the Mediterranean and Caribbean, and their opposite seasonality helps spread bookings over the year. 4000 boats are in these regions, plus the UK and Indian Ocean, and Pacific and Atlantic. There is a day boat and weekend boat market, as well as the holiday market, and Borrow-A-Boat is listing all kinds of boats for flexible durations in as many locations as possible.