EQT Ventures leads €24m Series A in Candela, the leader in emissions-free waterborne transportation
In the past 5 years, electrification of passenger cars has led to an explosion of emissions-free cars on the roads. Fossil-fuel buses in city centers around Europe have been replaced by electric buses. Road freight is now being electrified by EQT Ventures backed Einride. Another EQT Ventures backed company, Heart Aerospace, is making big leaps towards a future where airplanes are electric.
Today we are excited to announce that in the near future, passenger transportation on water will also become electrified: Candela is on a mission to electrify marine transportation, and EQT Ventures is now joining this mission by leading a €24m Series A.
Candela has spent the last 7 years building out full-stack technology that enables efficient, long-range electric hydrofoiling. They have built their own propulsion systems with the Candela C-Pod as well as developed and perfected the Candela C-Foil system. Its in-house team of software engineers works on wave detection technology, autonomy and anti-theft systems. Earlier this summer Candela put all of this technology in the brand new C-8 speed boat: an emissions free, quiet Formula One car on water. C-8 sales are going through the roof, which is obviously very exciting, but we are even more excited about the future of 100% electric, mass-transit passenger transportation on water.
With the help of this Series A, Candela will double down on R&D and ramp-up production of the brand new P-30 model, which will enable cities and private boat operators to finally migrate to an all-electric and emissions-free transportation on water. The P-30 will carry up to 30 passengers at 30 knots, and will be trialed by the City of Stockholm in late 2022.
In the coming years, we think that Candela, lead by the purpose-driven entrepreneur Gustav Hasselskog, will become the global leader that enables the transformation of the polluting and inefficient fossil-fuel transportation industry into an emissions-free and environmentally responsible one. We want to be at the forefront of preserving our oceans and lakes, and this enables us to collectively achieve the GHG emissions targets set by the Paris Climate agreement.
