Just looking at the cover, you might think that these three stars may have become hot news in the yachting circle because of buying a yacht or taking a yacht vacation, and yes, this all-star portfolio has invested in the electric yacht brand arc boats.
In our August sharing, we once tweeted an exciting electric yacht, Arc One, which manufacturer Arc Boats describes as the real Tesla at sea, because the company is a startup founded 10 months ago by former SpaceX engineer Ryan Cook and co-founder and CEO Mitch Lee (Space Exploration Technologies was founded by Musk in 2002).
#特斯拉model y! It's like Musk's yacht
Arc One is equipped with integrated smart technology for a seamless driving experience, and can also be wirelessly upgraded to provide a solid guarantee for the future.
The company also has a large number of former Space Exploration Technologies employees, and the electric speedboat called "Arc One" was designed by arc boats' former team of rocket engineers to draw inspiration from aerospace design, using Tesla's futuristic technology and electric powertrain.
And its strategic line is also the same as Tesla's, first entering the market with high-end ship models, then paying for research and development costs with enough production, and then gradually entering the low-end market, all of which are not exaggerated to call it a real tesla at sea.
From left: NBA star Kevin Durant, Hollywood superstar Will Smith and "Bragging Daddy" Sean Combs
The company has announced that a strategic partner of All-Stars has officially joined its investor ranks, and they will help the company realize its vision of yacht electrification. These include dreamers VC under entertainment industry investor Hollywood star Will Smith, NBA player Kevin Durant and trinty Five Ventures, which was founded with business partner Rich Kleiman, and combs under musician Sean "Diddy" Combs enterprises company.
At arc, the company says, we're building a future where all water boats are electric. That future is more interesting, more convenient, and more friendly to our planet. But it's also a far cry from the world we live in today, where more than 99 percent of ships still run on fossil fuels, so we need a lot of support to get there.
These celebrities have achieved extraordinary results in their respective fields, and they have also brought a wealth of experience in building brands, marketing products and cultivating strong communities. Together, they will help Arc go faster and expand the reach of arc boats.
We're also excited about the diversity these investors have brought us. We believe that diverse teams and experiences are critical to arc's long-term success and that these new partners will strengthen our team in many ways.
The startup completed a seed round led by venture capital firm andreessen Horowitz in February, which the company's co-founder and CEO Mitch Lee called a strategic investment that would see Arc's total funding surpass $7 million, and the three stars invested in Arc's seed round.
The first arc one model is expected to begin mass production next month, with the first products to be delivered to customers early next year. As the company has said before, the Arc One model does not plan to be prolific (less than 25), but it will set the tone for the position of electric yachts in this market, arc hopes to launch and start selling a lower-cost version of arc by the end of 2022, which will be directly aimed at consumers in the mass water sports market, and although the arc has not yet determined the price of the next boat model, it will take around $150,000 to 200,000 to compete with the same size internal combustion engine power boat.
The arc one is 24 feet (7.3 meters) long, can accommodate 10 passengers, and offers 60 cubic feet (1.7 square meters) of storage space, equipped with a powerful 475 horsepower electric engine, and can reach a top speed of 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour.
Lee said the launch time for the next model will depend on when and how much additional money arc ultimately raises. For now, the company hopes that the first boat model will increase the demand for electric yachts in the future.
Boat Information has pushed several financing articles: BNP Paribas Wealth Management has become a global leader in green yacht financing. In September 2020, electric outboard machine manufacturer Pure Watercraft received a round of financing of 23.4 million US dollars; the first domestic electric outboard machine manufacturer epropulsion received financing of 100 million yuan in April this year; just last month, the first domestic company focusing on hydrogen power system - Qingbo Exploration also received US dollar fund seed financing. Founded in 2017, Oka Zhigang, which focuses on the research and development of surface electric unmanned driving technology and unmanned ships (surface service robots), has received capital from the Hong Kong X Technology Fund and other capitals.
This further supports the capital's favor for green, sustainable development and innovative technology projects, and it has to be said that the vision of these three stars is keen, according to the Statistics of the United States NMMA, the sales of electric yachts in the United States continue to grow, showing a positive trend.
Capital is empowering sustainable development, and we look forward to more enterprises in the domestic yacht industry that aim at innovation and sustainable development, so let us tell more Chinese stories.