Sailo

Market position

Sailo positions itself as a global boat rental and yacht charter marketplace and has been described in media coverage as the "Airbnb of the Boat World/Boats" by The Wall Street Journal, El Nuevo Herald and Vogue, and as "the next Airbnb for luxury yacht rentals" by Forbes. Early competitors in peer-to-peer boat rental named by the company were Boatbound, Cruzin' and Boatsetter, which the founders characterized as focused on bareboats and experienced boaters. The company described a fragmented $35B boat charter industry and, in the US, more than $10 billion in total addressable market for boat rentals, citing 15 million privately owned boats and 88 million people who go boating annually.

At launch the company described itself as the only free marketplace for licensed captains, where captains list their services and renters choose among them, enabling instant booking confirmations for last-minute trips and on-demand pickups and drop-offs. It also emphasized a localized expansion approach with dedicated on-call captains and boats, in-person customer service, and planned ancillary services such as cleaning and catering, plus a focus on serving inexperienced boaters at a time when early peer-to-peer competitors concentrated on bareboats for experienced boaters. Unlike other boat rental companies, Sailo lets owners rent their boat with or without a licensed captain.

Technology

A web platform plus mobile apps (an iOS app launched in August 2016) providing search and filtering by boat type, length, price, crew and trip duration, direct messaging with boat representatives, online payments and booking requests, verified-boat listings, instant booking confirmation, user reviews, and social sign-in via Facebook, Google and Apple.

Go-to-market

Sailo acquires supply by recruiting private boat owners, charter operators and licensed captains to list on the platform, and demand through its consumer website and iOS app, destination-focused landing pages, customer reviews, a referral program and press coverage. Early on it took a localized, city-by-city expansion approach with local teams and hosted Sailo and marine-related events and meet-ups to build a boating community.

Consumer renters seeking day, multi-day or weekly trips, including both experienced and inexperienced boaters and groups booking with friends or family; on the supply side, private boat owners looking to offset ownership costs, professional charter operators, and licensed captains.

Geography

Headquartered in New York, NY. The marketplace spans three continents, over 50 countries (stated elsewhere as 100+) and more than 500 locations, with featured destinations including New York, Miami, San Francisco, California, Boston, Key Largo, La Paz and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Grenada, Martinique, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Greece, Croatia, Athens, Lisbon and Phuket/Thailand. Early operations began in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and the Hamptons, followed by Florida and the Caribbean, with international expansion roughly two years after launch.

History

The company was incorporated in March 2014 by graduates of Stanford Engineering and Columbia Business School, and worked out of the Columbia Startup Lab in its early days. It was in beta with a small group of boat owners and captains before launching in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and the Hamptons in August 2014, with the marketplace described as launched in September 2014. Operations began in spring 2015, and by that period the company reported over $260,000 in gross revenue and more than 1,300 listed boats. Sailo completed a 13-week Techstars accelerator program in December 2015. Initially concentrated in Miami and New York, it expanded internationally about two years after launch, reaching roughly 4,000 boats in 2016, and released an iOS app in August 2016. In November 2016 it launched its first Florida-to-Cuba charters. By May 2018, about 90 percent of the boats on the platform were charter operated. In June 2019, Romania's Neogen Group acquired a 9.4% stake in the company.