Sailsquare, the startup of sailing trips aims at leadership in Europe and in the world
The Parisian one is not a random location, since Sailsquare is located inside Station F , Europe’s largest startup incubator founded by Xavier Niel, and from here it controls the foreign expansion process supported by an international team led by Maxime Courtaigne and assisted by 4 different country managers – for France, the UK, Spain and Germany – with skills in digital marketing and tourism. A strategic path that aims to focus, in the immediate future, on markets in France, the UK, Spain and Germany and to focus, over the next three years, on making Sailsquare the reference player also in the US and Latin America .
By applying the concept of Airbnb to boating, in which the local skippers themselves propose boat experiences, Sailsquare has imposed a new concept of democratic sailboat, transforming tourism linked to the sea and making it more accessible and suitable for everyone, thanks to a versatile and adaptable offer according to the individual needs of users. A model translated by the sharing economy, which privileges the real needs of consumers with an intelligent and, above all, technological sharing capable of reducing costs, making nautical tourism accessible to all.
The 3 million foundraising
The constant acceleration of Sailsquare’s path has been made possible also and above all by an ambitious industrial plan supported by important rounds of investments, which has led to a collection of around 3.3 million euros (of which € 900,000 only in 2018) . To date, the business model that also aims at sailing newbies has allowed Sailsquare to establish itself as the largest market place in the world for booking sailing holidays with a community of 100,000 travelers, over 1,900 skippers and more of 20,000 holiday proposals.
“I am convinced that the success opportunities of a startup like ours are significantly influenced by the quality of the ecosystem in which it finds itself developing its offer and precisely in Paris, thanks to Station F, in which we entered after a strict selection, we have increased our opportunities for visibility and we are preparing for new and important challenges ”commented Riccardo Boatti , co-founder and CMO of Sailsquare.
With the Sailogy boat algorithm it takes off and aims for acquisitions
With more than 50 employees and a six-year history behind it, Sailogy, the Italian-Swiss boat rental company, is no longer a startup. But the startup remains the strong attitude to growth and the bets on advanced technologies. Thanks to an analytical and predictive algorithm, Sailogy aims to digitalize a sector – that of charters – still analog and to intercept a growing demand of the public that, even in the band of luxury, increasingly chooses the rental to the possession.
Affordable boat holidays
Sailogy offers an online platform that shows the boats available in real time with updated and comparable offers. In addition, the site allows online booking directly on the site by dividing the fee with the participants in the trip. A small revolution that allows access to a wide audience of what was, up until a few years ago, an experience for the few. Sailogy prices are affordable with a share of 70 euros per person per day for the sailboat and 150 for a catamaran.
The predictive algorithm
But the real innovation is the algorithm that crosses various factors of boat performance, sales volumes and customer reviews. “There is an analytical part – explains Manlio Accardo, founder of Sailogy, after experiences in Ferrari and Bain & Company – and there is a predictive part that analyzes a series of parameters such as the volumes of previous years, the research of the moment, the availability of expenditure is able to predict peak demand “.
A mechanism that allows you to play ahead in the intersection of demand and supply and in pricing.With benefits for everyone. The charter is not found at the last minute forced to sell the odds, which indeed collects upfront. “And the buyer finds himself deferring the spending for the holidays, splitting the boat quota over time, from air transport or other” adds Accardo.
A growing business
The market has rewarded Sailogy, which this year will ask 35 thousand travelers, thanks to agreements with thousands of charters that provide 22 thousand boats in 800 destinations worldwide. The audience is made up of many Germans, a presence that has been strengthened thanks to the digitalisation of Master Yachring GmbH , a historic German boat rental agency, acquired last year. Sailogy plans to scale further with new acquisitions in a travel sector that is up 6.5% annually and estimated at 50 billion euros globally. The goal for 2020 is to reach 65,000 travelers.
The other countries of origin of travelers beyond Germany, Italy and Switzerland, are the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain and South America. The public is also expanding: “Even those who could afford to buy boats of one or two million euros are interested in renting,” explains Accardo, “to avoid having to manage anything, a bit for the curiosity to do new and different experiences “.
5 years ago • Blog, boat tours, Pacific Northwest, Seattle