Boat Bureau

Who owns Boat Bureau?

Boat Bureau is currently owned by Sabadell Venture Capital through Sabadell Venture Capital (2015 vintage), since 2017.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-08-03

About Boat Bureau

Boat Bureau is a Barcelona-based online boat-charter marketplace that connects holidaymakers with charter companies and private boat owners, letting users search, compare and book recreational vessels for leisure sailing worldwide. Its catalogue spans sailboats, catamarans, motorboats and gulets across major nautical destinations, positioning the company as an online charter agency that pairs a self-service booking platform with dedicated agents. At the time of its 2017 fundraising the platform listed roughly 17,000 boats across sailing destinations in more than 100 countries. It sits in the online travel and marine-leisure segment, competing with other charter and boat-rental aggregators serving Mediterranean, Caribbean and North American markets.

Ownership journey

Boat Bureau was founded in Barcelona in 2011 by Josep "Pep" Mercade together with a small founding team, with the aim of moving recreational boat rental online. In October 2017 the company closed a EUR 500,000 financing round led by Sabadell Venture Capital, the venture-capital arm of Banco Sabadell, with the founding partners also participating alongside the fund. Sabadell Venture Capital backed the business as a minority venture investor rather than taking control, and has remained associated with the company as an active shareholder since 2017. No exit or secondary transaction has been recorded.

Under PE ownership

The 2017 capital was earmarked for marketing, technology development and additional hiring, and to strengthen higher-value markets including the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. Around the raise the company projected revenue approaching EUR 5 million for 2017, an increase of roughly 80 percent year on year, building on a catalogue that had expanded to about 17,000 listed boats. This followed an earlier growth phase in which the platform had already scaled its inventory and international coverage past 100 countries. Under the venture backing Boat Bureau continued to operate its charter marketplace from Barcelona, deepening its self-service booking technology and its network of professional charter operators.