The product makes it very easy for third parties to contact absentee boat owners who are otherwise largely anonymous. Being able to get in contact enables a third party to forewarn the boat owner of an impending or existing problem that can prevent and/or reduce damage and simplify boat management. This is done by the concerned third party scanning the NIDI plate which allows them to send an email and text direct via the platform to the owner highlighting the concerns; the boat owner will receive this message immediately. In the near future NIDI will add push notification functionality.
Structure
NIDS will retain all distribution rights in the Nordic region where, since introducing the NID Plate at the Gothenburg Boat Show, the company has made great progress. In addition, it has formed an alliance in Sweden with Pantaenius Insurance Company, a relationship NIDI will seek to establish with other insurance companies in all major territories.
The founding company, Nautical ID (Sweden) will own 20% of the issued share capital of NIDI and its two founding shareholders will become Directors of NIDI.
The distribution agreement in what is effectively a joint venture between the two companies is an exclusive contract renewable annually. When 5000 units are sold, the licence vests in NIDI in perpetuity and a royalty which reduces with volume is paid to NIDS throughout.
Nautical ID International has applied for Advance Assurance for qualifying under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.
A Small Price To Pay For Boatowners Everywhere
Whilst small boat ownership enjoys global appeal, the necessary upkeep, maintenance and protection cost of such craft is an onerous responsibility. As such, any early warning of factors that might impact on such costs is to be welcomed. The Nautical ID Plate provides for this early warning.
The table below illustrates the annual costs involved in owning a boat. These costs relate to a small sailing boat in a UK inland mooring so fall at the low end of the scale.
https://www.waterways.org.uk/boating/buying/running_costs_of_owning_a_boat
Contrast the above with the average mooring fees in our favoured Mediterranean target countries listed below.
Average mooring fees per metre per annum.
- France: €135-€1350
- Italy: €285-€1350
- Croatia: €435-€1050
- Greece: €225-€525
www.marinareservation.com
Mooring fees in the USA vary significantly but in popular boating areas such as Florida and California, average mooring fees can be as high as $250 per foot per annum.
As in the earlier table highlighting annual boating costs, the above mooring fees are but part of a substantially larger maintenance budget. What these examples clearly illustrate is that the cost of having the Nautical ID Plate as a fail safe mechanism is a de minimis addition to a boat owners annual costs.
Avoiding damage may be self evident but so many factors that result in boat damage are outside an absent owner’s control. As a result, any effective system that forewarns or reports either impending or actual damage to the boat owner is to be embraced; so often on the water an initial modest problem leads to greater problems in short order. No such system currently exists.
The diagram left below highlights the major causes of boat damage or loss whilst that on the right highlights location of loss makes salutary reading and points directly to the benefits of early warning.
https://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/magazine/2014/april/keeping-your-boat-afloat.asp
The concept and merits of the Nautical ID Plate is to essentially provide everyday boat owner with early warnings of danger or damage from fellow boat owners, marina operators and others. There is also clear opportunity for boat insurance companies to include the NID Plate as an essential part of a boat insurance policy to ensure an additional means of protection but equally a basis for limiting and mitigating insurance premiums.
How It Works
Investment Perks
We are pleased to offer a variety of investment perks should you choose to invest over and above certain thresholds.
Market
Global ownership of day boats and small yachts is huge. Whilst NIDI is able to approach this entire market, the company will initially concentrate on those countries where it has existing contacts who are capable of providing immediate large scale market penetration. These countries will be the UK, USA, Spain, France, Croatia and Australia. This will not preclude NIDI exploring other opportunities but the former will be priority in the first year.
Recreational boat ownership in these target markets, according to most current data, are as follows:
- USA – 11.5m
- UK – 700k
- Croatia – 200k
- Australia – 1m+
- Spain – 200k
- France – 900k
Whilst there are clearly B2C opportunities for growing revenue, NIDI believes the best way to achieve significant growth will be to partner with major marine service suppliers who include the NID Plate as part of their traditional service offer. These are principally insurance companies who offer the NID Plate ideally as either a mandatory or cost beneficial element of the annual boat insurance premium, marina operators who include it as part of the annual mooring fee or flotilla/charter owners who include it as a mandatory part of a weekly charter fee.
It is likely that Mediterranean Covid 19 related lock downs might well affect the level of charter activity this year but the first two areas above are expected to provide numerous opportunities as activity returns among small boat owners.
Although there is merit in having a standard cost of the NID Plate, global pricing of the product is under review as we continue to explore the requirements or unique features of each “distributor” relationship. For example, NIDS’ relationship with Pantaenius has the latter recommending the product to its clients who are then given a discounted insurance premium. This may well become the standard but our preferred policy will be to charge an insurer who then passes the cost on to the insured. In addition, we would expect to charge rather more for the NID Plate in major territories. For the sake of NIDI's illustrative forecasts however, we have assumed a standard price.
To illustrate the potential of its immediate contacts and their revenue generation, NIDI is currently in preliminary talks with:
- A major US insurance company that currently insures over 1m small boats.
- The owner of arguably the US’ largest marina operator whose marinas cater for over 160,000 boats.
- A major marina operator in Croatia which currently docks 17,000 boats.
- The major operator of marinas on the UK’s south coast which provides immediate access to the hub of the UK boating industry.
Product
As illustrated elsewhere, NIDS has produced a remarkably simple and economic NID Plate product that facilitates the small boat owner receiving early warning of impending or immediate danger. We believe this peace of mind will be welcomed throughout the pleasure craft world and later provide for building a community of like minded sailors with many common interests.
To that end there is no need for NIDI to reinvent the wheel. The company will be intent on optimising sales of the NID Plate globally but NIDI, in conjunction with the founder NIDS, is currently planning some technical enhancements of the product and system which will only go to increasing the effectiveness of the original product.
These improvements are:
- Multilingual site
- Design and UX upgrades
- Functions (Chatbox, report stolen, geo-ip, flag users and analytics)
- Mini marina functionality
With larger customer demand, product design can be adapted to match insurance company, marina or flotilla owner bespoke requirements. In addition to the decal, our product can be ordered as a sign for both the dock and winter storage as well as a label for the mast.
The system and products are already on the Swedish market. It is an ideal and easy means to arrange contact between boatowners, marina staff and fellow boatowners. Installation and registration is very easy and only takes a minute for the customer.
NIDS is concentrating sales efforts towards boat owners, marinas and dealers. Owing to variations in boat owner ages, type of boat and its usage, the company has a very broad market to approach. It is reaching customers through varied channels including social media, advertising, newsletters from insurance companies and others. NIDI intends utilising all these channels but again emphasises its major efforts will be directed towards main partner distributors.
Although the product is new on the market and as yet not widely used, there appears to be little if no competition. This gives NIDI a great opportunity to secure optimal global market penetration within a relatively short space of time.
Nautical ID Hub
Beyond the many practicalities and uses of the Nautical ID Plate, it is the company’s intention to build a Nautical ID Hub - a digital global community where boat owners and boat enthusiasts alike can collaborate, network and discuss ideas. The opportunities that could potentially present themselves through a high-traffic online portal include brokerage, education, e-commerce, sponsorship and advertising. It is the aim for Nautical ID Hub to sit within the main website as a subdomain, or possibly as a mobile IOS/Android Application.
Product Protection
The Nautical ID Plate is not capable of being patented but NIDI has registered the trademark and copyright in all major territories including the Nordic region. This will provide a significant level of protection which will be enhanced, and to a degree underwritten, by relationships established with major players in each country.
Exit
Given success and with its renewable subscription model, NIDI has the capacity to become a significant annuity income provider which will attract both specialised financial groups and larger marine service providers. The company intends to introduce both extensions of the core product and has additional product development ideas which would augment the company’s product range. Success here would likely increase the company’s potential appeal specifically to specialised marine industry operators.
The Directors expect the revenues to grow disproportionately to costs which will facilitate a generous dividend policy, this scenario will further attract potential acquirers.