US-based boat rental marketplace Boatsetter yesterday closed a $13m series A round provided by a consortium including the Stanford University Daper Fund.
ZG Ventures, Peninsual Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital and assorted angel investors also took part in the funding round.
Boatsetter operates a peer-to-peer marketplace that enables users to rent boats with licensed captains to go fishing, sailing or cruising. The company hopes to grow to 10,000 boats across 200 marinas in 2017, serving some 2,000 customers.
The money will help Boatsetter boost its sales and marketing activities as it accelerates its expansion in the US.
ZG Ventures and AMP Brickyard Ventures previously provided $700,000 in seed funding in 2013, according to deals database Crunchbase, though the claim is unsourced.
Jaclyn Baumgarten, co-founder and chief executive at Boatsetter, said: “We have taken boating from being a rare pastime for a fortunate few boat owners to being a universally accessible lifestyle activity for anyone with a smartphone and a credit card.
“Now everyone who ever dreamed of spending time on a yacht, or out fishing, or sailing, or wakeboarding can finally do those things whenever they want, all throughout the US, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean.
“With our additional captain and local-guide services, even people with no boating experience at all can realise their on-the-water dreams, safe in the hands of our certified professionals around the globe.”
