Well known boat hire and yacht charter marketplace BorrowaBoat has announced that it has acquired the sharing economy platform Beds on Board. This follows on from a series of other recent acquisitions and highlights the substantial growth and high performance of this industry leading brand.
Who are BorrowaBoat?
BorrowaBoat in now in its sixth year of trading and was founded by a group of boat enthusiasts with a desire to disrupt the luxury charter market, it describes itself as the “airbnb for boats”. The team’s aim was (and still is) to make it far easier for travellers wanting to hire a boat to connect with boat owners and charter companies.
Luxury chartering as a maturing global industry is set to be worth more than $27 billion by the year 2027.
The company is backed by over 1,700 investors and has raised more than £4.8 million in investment to date. The platform now has over 35,000 listings and operates in 65 different countries around the world.
BorrowaBoat offer more than peer to peer listings through charter companies, they also help to make boat ownership more affordable by helping to counteract the high costs of maintenance and marina fees by generating extra income.
Listings include everything from riverboats and canal boats to motorboats, sail boats, as well as luxury catamarans and yachts. These can be rented in a huge range of destinations, including Europe, Asia, North America and Australia and New Zealand.
BorrowaBoat has industry recognition as a leading charter marketplace
They have recently been nominated for a series of awards due to their growth and market disruption, including awards for Boldest Crowdfunding Project, Boldest Crowdsourcing and Boldest Marketplace.
The CEO and Co-Founder of BorrowaBoat is UK based Matt Ovenden. Ovenden is a serial entrepreneur with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Innovation, Design and Sustainability. He also founded specialist energy and sustainability Bright Green Shots, as well as ventures Free Wind Ltd and Free Island Energy.
Ovenden has used his knowledge the chartering market and background in business growth and innovation to drive forward the expansion of the BorrowaBoat platform.
This latest acquisition of Beds on Board offers the company fantastic growth, it is estimated that they will now have more than 5,000 additional listings and over 30,000 new site users.
Those with existing listings on Beds on Board will be able to list on BorrowaBoat too, offering both static and standard charters. Beds on Board was located in Lymington, United Kingdom.
Boat stays include a range of different vessels in marinas, cities, rivers and the country. They offer an interesting alternative to those looking for something other than a traditional hotel or airbnb stay.
The platform aims to grow three economies: The sharing economy offering boat accommodation, the boating economy and the local economies where local providers offer services to boating guests.
This is of course not BorrowaBoat’s first acquisition, last year the company announced their acquisition of the high-end charter brokerage Helm. This deal helped the company on its way to become the largest chartering marketplace and allowed them to significantly increase their luxury vessel offering.
Helm was first founded in 2015 by boating industry experts Peter Harrison and Simon Morgan. This platform focuses specifically on crewed charters and motor yachts and catamarans and over the years it developed an extensive, loyal customer base.
One of Helm’s biggest strengths is the leadership team’s in-depth industry knowledge. They have knowledge of chartering industries in Europe, the Caribbean and countries around the world and many of the team have a background as yacht instructors to superyacht skippers.
In addition to these acquisitions, BorrowaBoat also recently announced the purchase of peer to peer boat sharing platform Barqo. Barqo is an Amsterdam based company that was founded in 2014.
Barqo aims to connect boat owners that cannot use their boat as often as they like with people who are unable or not interested in owning their own vessel. Many who choose to rent these boats are water sport enthusiasts.
This site offers a safe and easy way to manage boat rental. To date, over 200,000 people have sailed with Barqo in over 435 locations. This totals up to more than 400,000 hours out at sea.
What does the future now hold for BorrowaBoat and its acquisitions?
BorrowaBoat are continuing with their expansion and growth strategies.
The company is now said to be exploring the possibility of initial public offering [IPO] on the Aquis Exchange this year. This would be a very significant move in the company’s accelerating growth plans and would be a world first in the luxury charter market.
It is expected that the company will be announcing even more exciting milestones soon. This level of investment and growth ultimately means that boat users, boat owners and charter companies will benefit from increased choice and more opportunities.
This article was written in cooperation with TMM