Yanmar just announced that has bought a majority stake in GetMyBoat, which it says is the world’s largest boat rental marketplace.
All told, Yanmar America, a subsidiary of Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd, invested $21 million in GetMyBoat. The money will be used to expand GetMyBoat and accelerate its international growth as travel markets reopen after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yanmar, with headquarters in Osaka, Japan, has been working with GetMyBoat since an initial investment in 2018. Despite the pandemic, Yanmar says GetMyBoat has exceeded a 10 times growth in revenue since 2019.
Launched in San Francisco in 2013, GetMyBoat now has 150,000 listings for boat rentals and charters in 184 countries, with 9,300 destinations. It has an online platform at getmyboat.com and mobile apps for IOS and Android.
The idea is similar to Airbnb, where owners make their boats available for temporary rentals. It takes advantage of the trend toward a sharing economy, where you only pay for the services you want at the time, as opposed to buying something.
It also makes boat usage available, easy and basically hassle-free. The picture above is a screen shot from my computer in Connecticut when I opened the GetMyBoat website.
Yanmar said it did not intend to change the GetMyBoat business model, but will work to expand its digital operations and build on developing trends in recreational boating.
“Together, we’re not only shaping the next generation of marine recreation, but also reaching future generations of consumers globally,” said Shiori Nagata, chief strategy officer for Yanmar.
One of the main competitors for GetMyBoat is Boatsetter.com, which was founded in South Florida in 2012. It says it now has 19,785 boats available in 600 locations. Read more:
