Oceanvolt launches new €800,000 crowdfunding campaign
Finnish electric propulsion pioneer Oceanvolt has launched a crowdfunding campaign through Invesdor with a goal of raising €800,000 (US$ $840,000) for 6.08% of the company, which includes its fully owned subsidiary Oceanvolt USA. The equity shares are being offered at €90 each, with a minimum investment of 4 shares.
UPDATE: JANUARY 6, 2022: Oceanvolt surpassed its €800k goal and the Oceanvolt Board of Directors decided to increase the round maximum not once, but twice to 1,4M€ and to issue 2222 additional shares. The campaign ended January 5 with investment of €1,464,390 from 390 investors. Congratulations to the Oceanvolt team.
Previous crowdfunds used for product development
This is the third crowdfunding campaign for Oceanvolt, which was started in 2004 as one of the first companies designing and manufacturing high level electric boat motors. A round in July of 2019 hit the €2M mark, for the company raising more than triple the goal of €600K. In 2020 they initiated another round and raised even more, with a final total of € 2,250,360.
The Oceanvolt Invesdor page says those funds were used to invest in growth through product development, creating a sales and refit network and scaling the organization for growth.
That product development includes a new lighter version of their modular AXC motors, a HighPower version of their award-winning ServoProp variable pitch sail drive, and technology and software enhancements for remote support of the propulsion systems.
The global sales and distribution network now includes agents and representatives in Spain, UK, Netherlands, Germany and the US, where they have also inked a contract with a new installation partner.
Oceanvolt has been headed up by CEO Tommi Lassila sin March of 2020. A naval architect by education, he was previously at ABB, most recently managing their global sales activities. Oceanvolt has had significant revenue growth since his arrival.
The Invesdor documents show that projected sales for 2022 are almost double those of 2019: (€2.765M versus €1.405M) and the company sees an even brighter future, project sales of €4.438M in 2023 and growing to more than €16M by 2026.
HighPower ServoProp for 50-70 ft sailing yachts
One of the immediate and exciting opportunities for next year is the new HighPower ServoProp, which has been able to generate 3kW at 8 knots and a whopping 14kW at 15 knots of boat speed in preliminary tests. This is seen to be a big breakthrough for larger 50 to 70 ft sailing yachts.
Oceanvolt already partners with sailing yacht manufacturers like X-Yachts, Vaan Yachts, Elan Yachts, Salona Yachts, Arcona Yachts & Outremer Catamaran. A growing number of other boatbuilders are keen to offer electric propulsion as at least an option, if the as standard. Oceanvolt says this whole market could be as big as €38M per year.
Aside from new boats, the company also sees big opportunities in refits and has devoted significant resources to building a network that now includes 34 partners in 17 countries. Another big opportunity is commercial boats for companies that are under pressure to reduce their carbon emission or just want to relieve themselves from constant fill-ups and the uncertainty of fossil fuel prices.
The prospectus shows three scenarios coming out of funding. Minimal funding of €215K will enable the HighPower ServoProp to be finalized and launched in 2023.
Already the first scenario has been reached. Just 24 hours after launch of the crowdfunding campaign, there has been investment of €439,560 and Scenario !! is rapidly approaching.
Scenario II sees €500k of investment used to used to scale up and improve the efficiency of the production with new resources and tooling.
SEE UPDATE ABOVE: A full €800k funding will “enable the company to add resources to the R&D department to finalise the software needed for system integration to onboard information equipment and to enable further remote connectivity. These features will create possibilities for new service upgrade products.”
Three exit scenarios
The company also sees three exit scenarios.
The first is a merger and acquisition, where Oceanvolt is acquired by an industry operator. These could see boat and equipment manufacturers in the industry and within Oceanvolt’s network be potential buyers of the company or parts of the company.
There is also the scenario of Oceanvolt being fully or partly acquired by an investment company such as a Private Equity or Venture Capital firm.
The third scenario is an IPO where Oceanvolt is listed on a stock exchange and becomes a publicly traded company.
Full details, documents, figures and projections are available on the Oceanvolt Invesdor page. You may have to register to gain access to all information.
