Borrow A Boat raises over £3m in crowdfunding

Boat hire and yacht charter marketplace, Borrow A Boat has smashed its latest crowdfunding goal by raising over £3 million.

The UK’s leading boat charter marketplace closed its crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday (28 June), after raising £3,017,030 from 670 investors on the Seedrs platform.

The latest round brings the business’ lifetime crowdfunding total to over £7.8 million.

The news comes after the firm acquired three competitors: Helm, Beds on Board and Barqo in the past 12 months, as reported in MIN. Borrow A Boat is also exploring an IPO — understood to be a world-first for a boat charter marketplace.

According to the crowdfunding page, this round is to boost capital for growth, with Borrow A Boat planning launches into Italy, Germany, Spain and France before the end of 2022, and a bespoke marketing strategy for each country. A host of additional tech enhancements and features are also planned to further hone the technology and UI & UX for users.

Business Matters magazine quotes Matt Ovenden, CEO & Founder of Borrow A Boat commenting on the news. “In 2017, when Borrow A Boat was launched, the yacht charter industry was stagnant,” he says.

“We have always believed that boat rental should be as easy as booking a hotel, flight or train, so could see the opportunity the coming marketplace revolution afforded both boat owners and customers.

“Despite launching this round amidst the backdrop of increasing interest rates, inflation and the risk of recession, we have now successfully completed our biggest ever raise, bringing our lifetime crowdfunding total to £7.8 million.

“The huge success of this crowdfund, 402 per cent over target, is clear recognition of our growth and progress towards our objective of making boating accessible for all. It shows the support, from investors, for our plans to grow the marketplace internationally.

“Going forward we will continue to innovate and disrupt – true to our mission to make boating more accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive for all, to help drive participation, and make chartering a boat simpler, wherever you are in the world.”

Borrow A Boat earns commission on each charter booked, which is typically between 15-20 per cent.