On day two of the International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition and Conference, participants of Yachting Ventures’ Start-Up Pavilion introduced themselves to the industry, products were presented during a Pitch the Press session, and Yachting Ventures’ Shark Tank-like Start-Up Pitching Competition gave companies a chance to raise funds from investors.
A look at some of the companies from the Start-Up Pavilion gives an idea of the direction marine industry innovation is taking.
Adam Germany, founder and CEO of Saranova Marine, is bringing Candela electric hydrofoil vessels to the Tampa Bay region. The water shuttle fleet is planned for Florida’s Gulf Coast under an exclusive partnership between Saranova and Swedish electric boat manufacturer Candela.
“We’re bringing a fleet of all-electric, hydrofoiling water shuttles to the Gulf Coast of Florida,” Germany told Trade Only Today. “We’ve signed an exclusive partnership to provide these vessels throughout the entire Tampa Bay area.”
Germany said the project began as a solution to the area’s seasonal traffic congestion. “We wanted to find a way to move people in a meaningful way — tourists and locals alike — and realized the problem extended throughout the Tampa Bay region,” he said. “It felt like a miss not to lock in to the entire area and create value for everyone involved.”
Saranova is raising capital and expects to launch operations in 2027, with plans to generate $17 million in first-year revenue and nearly $100 million within five years. Before the end of this year, the company plans to bring a 28-foot Candela C-8 to the area for sea trials and demonstrations.
David Pietrocola, founder and president of Cohesive Robotics, develops robotic systems to help manufacturers automate some of their more challenging production processes, things that they haven’t been able to automate with robotics before, he told Trade Only Today.
“We’ve developed an AI-powered software called Argus OS that takes a 3D camera, and scans the parts and programs the robot on the fly based on what it sees,” Pietrocola said. “It eliminates the need to program and teach the robot. We help manufacturers automate things like sanding, polishing, grinding, as well as welding.”
Cohesive Robotics has deployed a few systems in the New York area that are producing metal parts. Pietrocola believes it’s still early for widespread robotics in the marine industry, but he sees applications in sanding, processing fiberglass, aluminum welding and polishing, as well as hull cleaning and other service operations.
Pablo Zimbron, of 3D-Boats, presented the company’s new online sales platform that gives high-definition tours of boats in a three-dimensional presentation.
“The same way that you walk the boat with a client, you walk it online,” Zimbron told Trade Only Today. “During the same call, you can change the boats you tour, share your screen in the way you do with a Zoom call. We give the tool sets for manufacturers and dealers to close the sales of boats online. We know that there are fewer people going to dealerships, and we’re bringing the buying experience online, as that’s where we see the buying trends going.”
The technology presents actual boats in 4K imagery, not CGI. The tech assembles all the graphics into a life-like, manipulatable image for touring the boat. It’s a new way to close the sale of boats online, Zimbron said.
“You can take measurements inside of the tour,” Zimbron said. “We started last year and did boat shows, and have been in conversations with manufacturers and already have more than 250 boats on our asset page. Any dealer could come to us and start using our assets for tours. They can start selling the boats before they even get the inventory.”
At Pitch the Press, exhibitors introduced new products to a group of industry buyers and the media. Supersede CEO Sean Petterson introduced the program. Supersede, the manufacturer of Marine Board, won an IBEX Innovation award last year, and Petterson said he knows the importance of presenting new products to the industry.
Companies that made pitches included Sensar Marine, AquaAmp, Wise/Curv, Swede Marine, Schmitt Marine, Edura, Modus, NuSnaps, TeakDecking Systems, Ora Design and Lock Marine.
The Yachting Ventures Start-Up Pitching Competition brought six start-ups before a group of investors for five-minute product pitches and funding requests. The six companies that made pitches were Boat Planet, 3D Boats, DoubleDash, OceanVault, Premier Remotes and iWarranty.
“It was great to once again work with the local investor ecosystem here in Tampa, as well as with leisure marine investors, to put together the Start-Up Pitch Competition at IBEX,” Gabbi Richardson, founder of Yachting Ventures, told Trade Only Today. “Launching a startup in marine is notoriously challenging, and technology adoption is slow. Providing a stage and platform for entrepreneurs at major shows like IBEX is absolutely crucial if we’re to drive forward real innovation and progress.”
Each of the companies had innovative, compelling products that garnered investor interest. At the program’s end, investors decided that iWarranty “had the best product and pitch,” Richardson said. No company got immediate funding, she said, because it’s not decided on the spot, but connections were made. Some of these companies could end up winning IBEX Innovation Awards some day, and sponsoring programs themselves, as Supersede did this year.
