The Slovak boat rental company has become a European leader
Although the tourism pandemic has generally approached, there is one sector that it has paradoxically helped. The Slovak company Boataround, which has risen to the top of Europe and the world in the last year, also deals in boat rental. The companies Jana Escher and Pavel Pribiš also used the funds they received thanks to the Crowdberry investment platform.
How much time a year do you spend on a boat?
PP: Since we do Boataround, less than before. At least me. But recently we returned from Croatia, where we spent time on the boat with our team and also met with the boat owners.
JE: I ship mentally with our customers seven days a week. We were also there so that you could find out what situations our customer can get into, how best to advise him if necessary, and of course, to best understand the product and the offer on the principle of “put yourself in the customer’s shoes.”
What time are we talking about in the case of Boataround?
PP: Slovakia has great potential in young people. In Bratislava, where we have our headquarters, there are about forty-five people. Another five colleagues work in Barcelona, where we opened a branch this year. We currently have seven people in Split, five colleagues are in Athens. Altogether, there are about 60 of us.
JE: We have more than 13 nationalities in all this.
Boataround is the second largest company in Europe and the fourth in the world in the area in which you do business. How is such an idea born in a country without the sea?
JE: Pavel and I got to work at the Booking headquarters in Vienna, from where we started the Slovak and Czech markets together. We have been working together for more than five years. I then spent three years in Asia in charge of operations and network hotels, and Pavel opened new branches in Hungary and Ukraine. After more than five years in senior positions, we got into a life situation when we wanted something. Pavel is a yachtsman, he had experience with renting boats, but not very good. It has always been difficult to book a boat easily and without problems. He ended up with a completely different ship, which he ordered, paid extra fees he didn’t know about in advance, and so on. We built Boataround on this experience and knowledge of hotel reservation systems.
When did Boataround originate?
JE: I came back from Thailand and in May 2016 we launched a simple version of the website. And we also got in the car then and went to Croatia to introduce our first boat owners. They immediately signed the contract, saying that it was a perfect idea and that they trusted us. Within a few days of the launch of the website, we had the first customer from the Czech Republic, another from Slovakia. And today we can say that we have customers from more than 98 countries.
PP: The key for me was that Janka came back then. We solved the idea for a very long time, but in fact, until Janka’s return and move to the goal, it was crucial for me to leave Booking.com and start the project at all. The woman was very important to me, I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else. I think we complement each other perfectly.
So you have signed the first contracts, the first customers order ships, what happened next?
PP: There have been many small steps that are not insignificant in themselves today. The idea is simple, but to make it all where it is today, it takes hours and hours of hard work and a feeling for the right people at the time. You can’t go short, it’s a marathon.
JE: I agree that abbreviations do not exist in business and that is what we follow. We start anew every day and every day requires a great deal of execution. It is not possible to say one day that this is all that is done and equipped. Because the phone rings, it needs to be picked up, the order comes, it needs to be processed. You can’t sleep on your laurels and it’s not a cliché.
How interested in a pandemic?
JE: In the end, we grew up, but the beginning, when the borders were closed, let’s be honest, it wasn’t easy. When the borders closed, they really fell from day to day, because no one knew what would happen. However, we turned our attention to local markets. The big advantage was that although the borders were closed, domestic markets remained and, for example, the Italians were interested in escaping the covid in the cities. They got in cars, went to islands, and rented boats. We saw the same trend in Croatia, the Germans went to houseboats, sailed on the rivers. And we focused on completing the offer in local destinations as much as possible.
We also closely monitored current measures in individual countries. When, for example, Germans or Slovaks could travel to Croatia, we knew where and how to work with marketing.
Ultimately, we benefited from the fact that boats are perceived as a safe form of vacation in a small community of people of the family or close friends who were able to isolate themselves from others.
PP: And we also said to ourselves that we would not leave a single employee, that we would keep it. Shareholders trusted us and our vision, and we assumed that this was the moment when the competition could begin to lose its breath. At that time we were in the top 10, together with strong companies from Germany, which were somewhere other than us in terms of capital and performance. But we found a way to go about it, so with luck and a little courage, we succeeded.
So what is your market position today?
PP: The biggest competitor for us was the German company Zizoo. In May, we reached our level of turnover, and since August we have been about 20 percent. I think we are in the top 2 in Europe. Boataround is a purely organic product, we don’t have numbers and companies bought under it. Recently, a large investment group from the Czech Republic invested in yachting by buying a few companies. So they are a bit packed, but if you separate them and look at the net rental of boats, it turns out that we are the first or maximally second in Europe.
Today, however, you do business on all continents. How crucial was this expansion to the global level?
PP: We launched Boataround in Slovakia, which is a relatively small market. It should not be as good as, for example, American or British companies, in a huge market where they can gradually and grow. From the beginning of our business, they had to build so that we could grow quickly. This means accepting people with different language or technical skills, but also making the product ready to work in 26 languages. Paradoxically, sometimes a seemingly disadvantage is also a great advantage.
Why is it important for you to be represented directly in some cities abroad?
PP: It’s nice, as long as it’s close to the shipowners, it helps to build a relationship. We learn from each other and get information about local markets. It is also true that in Bratislava we have a bit of a problem with the talent we need, which we need for some foreign markets. That’s why we opened Barcelona, there is an amazing potential of talents who study there and then stay there. We can move people, for example, from Slovakia, as Barcelona has a good reputation. That’s the way we think. We want to be close to talent.
JE: When customers have to feel for you, they feel more confident when they speak their language. There are a large number of talented people of different nationalities in Barcelona.
Where do you have the most clients?
JE: We have the most from the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Then, of course, V4 ̶ Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary. East Russia. And let’s not forget the Italians and the British. And we also have a strong base in the Nordic countries. But we also have customers from Uruguay, New Zealand, or Nepal or Malaysia.
So does someone rent a boat directly in Malaysia or is it a person from Malaysia who is vacationing in Europe?
PP: We also have destinations in Malaysia. We cover approximately 73 countries with more than 1300 destinations. Most are, of course, in Europe. We have destinations in Canada, Australia, Africa and beyond the Arctic Circle. Our goal is to be as wide as possible, so where our goal is to provide the opportunity to rent a boat. And it doesn’t have to be just at sea, it can also be here on the Danube, for example. For example, we have boats in Vlčom hrdle, not far from Bratislava.
In three investment rounds via the Crowdberry platform, Boataround managed to raise 1.6 million euros. The fourth investment round is currently underway. How did the investment help you?
PP: Without them, we would not be the company we are today. When we started in 2016, there really weren’t many options. A few funds, a few private investors, and that was it. Crowdberry at the time was the only company to appeal to smaller investors. Today the situation is a little better. There is more confidence and also a desire to invest. Czech funds are also looking towards Slovakia.
Already on our first investment, Crowdberry available us to promote our business through its platform. They gave us their seals, they helped us with the marketing plan. We used the capital we raised in this way to employ the first programmers and to reach shipowners elsewhere than in Croatia. We needed to buy tickets, we needed a website and we also needed to hire people to pick up the phones. It was absolutely the key growth capital of the first phase. A new investment campaign is currently running on the Crowdberry platform. This aims to raise additional capital that accelerates the company’s future growth and strengthens our position in the global market.
So you’ve invested in expansion and day-to-day operations. Was it the same with the second investment?
PP: Our business model is not complicated. When we get money, we have two options for how to use it. Either in talent or in marketing. When we joined the Crowdberry platform in the first year, we only had a little over a hundred ships on the site. So we used the first capital to be able to reach new shipowners and grow to those who were looking for new owners. This also means more destinations to more customers.
Can you tell us who your shareholders are, which you have acquired thanks to Crowdberry?
PP: Among Czech investors, we have those who have had a successful e-commerce platform, such as Heureka and Slevomat. We also have very high quality Slovak investors who are building international companies. We can discuss or consult with them when we need to.
JE: Crowdberry shareholders are in large numbers our customers and ambassadors at the same time. Very important we will have to trust or we will be able to pick up the phone and ask when you need advice such a relationship we have with all our leaders. It is a strong personal commitment for us.
Why does a boat holiday attract more people?
PP: For me, it’s a combination of two things. The first is the space around, which is unique. When you imagine anchoring in a bay in Barcelona and waking up, you can see the Sagrada Familia without the crowds of tourists. It’s very calm for me, it gives me energy. And the second thing is the time for the people you’re on the ship with. It is a relatively small space, often there is no signal, social networks are not addressed. One has a computer turned off and suddenly has time to talk, to each other. It’s a return to humanity for me.
JE: So we talk to each other that “turn off the engine” and you really start. Turns off from the everyday world. For me, yachting is freedom. You are not attached to one place, you can choose whether you want to look only at the horizon or the beach. Last week, when we were in Croatia, we turned off the engine and sailed on the sails, the ship did not adapt at all to the movement of the sea and the waves. And I, as a man who talks a lot, didn’t need to say anything for about an hour. I also completely washed away.
Company Around the ship was founded in 2016 by former Booking.com employees – Jana Escher and Pavel Pribiš with many years of experience with the online booking business model and international operations. From originally 2 employees, 1 destination and a catalog with a few dozen vessels, Boataround has developed into a global technology platform with a 46-member international team providing services in 26 localized languages. The online booking platform offers a thousand truly large catalogs offering 27 vessels (ships, yachts, catamarans) in more than 1,300 destinations in 73 countries. www.boataround.com
Crowdberry Since 2015, it has made it possible to co-own and participate in the success of proven innovative Czech and Slovak companies. Crowdberry’s portfolio of investors also includes successful brands such as GymBeam, Footshop, Isadore, Boataround.com, Ecocapsule and MultiplexDX. It also focuses on selected real estate investments. www.crowdberry.eu.