The round was led by a private investor, with participation from F2IAM Fund.
Since evolving its business model and launching the first dedicated superyacht marketplace earlier this year, YACHTNEEDS has gained incredible momentum, raising €1.25 million in its first round of funding.
Having just officially registered as a public company S.A.M in Monaco, this round of funding has come from a private investor who brings extensive experience in technology and international marketplaces, along with the F2IAM Fund, a Monegasque Innovation Impact and Acceleration Fund, supported by the Monaco government.
Founder and ex-crew member Tony Stout explains the journey so far, “We launched the YACHTNEEDS directory in 2016 always knowing we wanted to build a marketplace. We joined MonacoTech in 2018, which is a selective startup incubator that propels innovation in Monaco and who have played a significant role in supporting our journey to date. Over the last 4 years we have seen and explored the demand for a trusted marketplace within the yachting community and evolved our development strategy 1.5 years ago. As a result, we launched YACHTNEEDS marketplace in January 2022 with the plan to take our platform global.”
YACHTNEEDS marketplace is the first of its kind within the yachting industry and offers many thousands of yachting specific products, sold by 100’s of local, trusted sellers. The marketplace saves buyers arduous time sourcing products allowing crew, guests, and owners to search via brand, manufacturer, part-code or select from the many categories related to each department onboard, and have their orders easily delivered to their yacht or location of choice.
The private investor explains, “I am thrilled to be part of this journey that YACHTNEEDS is embarking on. It is an excellent and innovative project, and one that I know will shape the yachting industry for good.”
The funding has put the platform in great stead for their future plans. Stout explains, “We have successfully launched in France, Italy and Spain with over 30,000 part codes and products currently active. We have a strong expansion plan for Europe and will also launch in the USA/Caribbean this year. By the end of 2023, we will be global and aim to have over 1 million part-codes active. This round of funding will allow the team to shift gears and accelerate our expansion constantly updating and improving our marketplace within this ever-shifting industry.”
Credit: YachtNEEDs