An informed boater is a smart boater, and a smart boater sports boatrax
AN INFORMED BOATER IS A SMART BOATER, AND A SMART BOATER SPORTS BOATRAX
In the age of smart intelligent mobile applications, Boatrax is registering with boat owners and investors alike
Miami, FL (February 1, 2018) – Boatrax and its frontline investors are expecting to be big market players in the rapidly expanding world of smart boat technology. Anyone who has followed recreational boating industry trends will confirm that, along with the recent bull market driving industry sales upwards of over $120 billion dollars (according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association), tech-savvy consumers are forcing the recreational boating industry to respond to an equally, yet still underserviced industry demand – smart boat technology.
The demand for supportive boating technology has grown at warp speed over the past two to three years as both the landscape of boat ownership changes, and informed consumers accustomed to tech solutions that make life easier, more efficient and enjoyable at the office, in the home and car, and even in the air, demand the same experience at sea.
Enter Boatrax, named by The New Tropic as one of the ‘Top five most promising Miami Startups at eMerge 2017’. New Tropic Reporter Bob Wile writes, “There are plenty of apps out there that allow you to buy, sell, lease or rent your boat. But Boatrax is the only one that allows boat owners to manage the boat itself so that they can properly manage its use. With Boats Group, the largest owner of boating marketplaces, moving to Miami, Boatrax seems well positioned to capitalize on South Florida’s growing boat tech community.”
The company co-founders FIU grads Arturo Malave and David Villegas, are more than mere business partners. They’re family and as far as Malave and Villegas are concerned, the number 1 fun-filled family activity, particularly here in South Florida, is boating. According to Malave industry tracking records show that there are approximately 87 million people in the US participating in some form of boating experience annually. That’s a lot of people and a lot of potential boat owners who could have more fun on their boats if alleviated from the tedious task of maintaining manual boat log records, Malave and Villegas explain.
Beyond their mutual desire to help the boat owner maximize fun time with the use of the Boatrax system, there is another mission: to help protect boat owners from abuse of their property. With the emergence of boat-share technologies, there is an increased need for boat owners to know where their boats have been and who’s driving at the helm. The transparency that the Boatrax logging system ensures, will help boat owners engaging in boat-sharing protect their investments. According to the Boatrax team, boat owners could realize up to a 10 percent increase in the resale value of their boats, simply by installing the Boatrax system.
“Our Cloud Platform doesn’t only work as a safe lock for the boat’s data, it also creates the perfect environment to analyze that data and make it available for failure prevention,” explains Malave. Boat Captain Matthew Neber is a very strong advocate for the Boatrax smart technology system. “As an industry professional, boat captain and pro-fisherman, I really see the value of this technology and can say that this is something that the industry has been waiting for,” Neber says.
The Boatrax solution makes logging a breeze for the experienced and inexperienced alike. Among its featured technologies are the: Maintenance Log, Trip Log, Crew & Expense Log and Crew Share. With Boatrax there is no guesswork, paperwork or untraceable data that could cost the boat owner in unforeseen repairs, undocumented problems or undetected property abuse. As Malave and Villegas see it, with the Boatrax Box on board, nothing should ever go wrong because the Boatrax Box automatic log tells all.
Our goal is to set the gold standard for smart boat technology, says Malave. And there’s a very good chance that they will. Boatrax is leading the charge to introduce the “Black Box” to the marine industry. A move that will revolutionize maintenance and tracking forever. This might have been what Microsoft had seen in the company when the two co-founders applied for a grant from the software giant in 2015. The very competitive processes yielded a $150,000 prize which the principles have applied to their hosting services requirement, says Malave.
In 2015, they launched the first leg of the fundraising campaign, raising over $250,000 from private investors and partnership support. This in addition to the Microsoft support brings the Miami-based start-up to $350,000 in its initial start-up capital. In February, the company plans to launch a new Kickstarter Campaign at the 78th Annual Miami International Boat Show. The round-two funding cycle will be earmarked for updated improvements to the technology, already enjoyed by over 14,000 users and catapult one of Miami’s hottest new technology companies into the next phase of its business cycle.
For information regarding Boatrax and the Boatrax 2018 Kickstarter Campaign visit us at www.boatrax.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and campaigns.boatrax.com.
