Bout participated in the Yachting Ventures startup accelerator program (2021).
Based in Finland, Bout is a digital platform for water transportation with a mission to increase the accessibility of maritime locations for consumers.
Since participating in our Yachting Ventures accelerator back in 2021, Bout has gone from strength-to-stength - expanding their activities and pivoting from a mobile app for ordering boat rides to a platform centralizing the supply and demand in the water transportation industry.
“Although we started as Uber, we now consider ourselves to be the Tinder of the Seas”, says Bout’s COO Teemu Terttunen. “We actually took the Tinder comparison from one of our users and we love it. It's a match!".
Bout essentially connects consumers with the most suitable local service provider based on their requirements and preferences. The startup offers both "Uber-style" rides and customised experiences, making it equally perfect for those that simply want to travel from A to B via water and those that want to spend longer periods at sea - getting to know a city from a different perspective, for example.
The EIT Investment
Co-founded by the European Union, EIT Urban Mobility is a European initiative for the future of urban mobility. EIT UM looks for the most prominent entrepreneurs disrupting the European mobility industry and invested in Bout after seeing the potential in what the company is trying to achieve.
“We’re super excited to have EIT on board! They not only provide the necessary capital, but more importantly strong support and access to their wide business network. We’re really looking forward to reshaping the mobility landscape together”, says Teemu Terttunen.
Following this latest capital injection, the Bout funding round remains open and the startup is looking for additional investment to help strengthen their presence in the Nordics and expand towards international waters.
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