Band of Boats takes over Hey Captain and Digital Nautic
As we mentioned in these columns, the Bénéteau Group announced on October 31, 2018 that its subsidiary Band of Boats, the arm of its digital strategy, had acquired the Nantes-based start-up Digital Nautic . No mention was made in its communication of the link with the boat rental platform Hey Captain. Digital Nautic is actually the technical part of this website presenting offers from boating professionals, founded in 2014. To learn more, BoatIndustry contacted Clement Douet, co-founder of the company.
In its press release, the Bénéteau Group only talks about the acquisition of Digital Nautic, what about the boat rental website Hey Captain?
Clément Douet: It is indeed the acquisition of the 2 activities Hey Captain and Digital Nautic. The question of maintaining the two brands Hey Captain and Band of Boats is still under discussion.
What were your motivations for conducting the operation?
Band of Boats approached us with an offer to buy us out. We took the plunge for 3 reasons:
- This brought us the investment capacity of the Bénéteau Group and an advantage for the international development of Digital Nautic.
- For 4 years, we have always had the approach to work with the professionals of the nautical industry to free up their time and Band of Boats has this same approach towards the professionals.
- Private boat rental sites have hurt the professional boat rental companies and we quickly saw that they were going to start selling boats, as one of them has already opened a showroom. With Band of Boats, which sells boats, we will be able to continue to accompany the professionals.
You used to work with other brands than the Bénéteau group, how will it be in the future?
Digital Nautic does not refrain from working with other rental platforms or other brands. This is part of the assurances we have obtained.
From a team and local perspective, what will the Band of Boats buyout look like?
For the teams, it is a merger between Band of Boats and Hey Captain. Our sales team will join Tristan de Quillacq's team at Band of Boats. I will be in charge of marketing and my partner Etienne Millet will be in charge of technical management. Before, the Band of Boats teams were very commercial and marketing, while Hey Captain had a more technical profile. It's complementary.
From a physical point of view, we should integrate a single office on January 1, 2019 on the Ile de Nantes.
