Neogen Group buys stake in boat rental marketplace Sailo.com

Neogen Group, the parent company of several brands including BestJobs and Vivre, has acquired a 9.4 percent stake in Sailo.com, a boat rental marketplace founded by a Romanian entrepreneur in the US and active in over 100 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Sailo’s post-investment market cap reaches USD 9 million.

Neogen is thus entering the still small, but highly dynamic boat rental market, which is expected to reach a value of EUR 70 billion globally by 2022, a 65 percent growth compared to the 2018 value.

“Although it’s perceived as a niche reserved for those with very high incomes, boat rental has potential because it’s becoming more and more accessible not only for those who have a passion for sailing, but also for groups or families who want to spend a holiday at sea at a cost that’s often similar or even lower than the cost of a hotel,” said Calin Fusu, the owner and CEO of Neogen.

Sailo Inc. was founded in the US in 2015 by Romanian entrepreneur Adrian Gradinariu, who spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley and later moved to New York to establish Sailo, which allows people to rent out boats of all types and sizes, anywhere in the world.

Sailo has offices in New York and Miami and has over 25,000 boats available to rent, from speedboats and sailboats to luxury yachts. Customers can also buy related services like certified skippers or even an extended crew for larger boats.

Neogen was founded in 2000 and has specialised in the development of successful online marketplace-style businesses, most notably BestJobs, Vivre, Clever Taxi (later sold to Daimler), iTaxi (Moldova), Frisbo, Conso.ro, and Casta.ro.