The yacht industry might be niche, but it certainly is lucrative – the market has recovered from a difficult post-recession period and now has an annual revenue of around £905 million per year. For the super-rich, yachts never go out of style – something that bespoke yacht makers Legacy Motor Yachts hope to capitalize on, seeking a £100,000 crowdfunding investment on Crowd2Fund.
Moonraker Engineering Ltd, trading as Legacy Motor Yachts are aiming to raise growth funds in order to allow the company to take at least two new products to market. The Cheshire-based company was founded in 2012 by Paul McDermott, who was inspired to start the business after locating the original tooling used to build the “Moonraker 36” classic motor yacht, after which their business is named. This craft was developed by Colin Chapman of Lotus, which was was advertised as the fastest production motor yacht in the world when it first entered the market in 1969.
McDermott is now in the process of introducing a number of new boats to market, all of which are inspired by classic British design and engineering. The company aims to carry on the tradition of excellence in British boatbuilding.
McDermott’s son Chris, who also works for the business, recently captained the Great Britain handball team to their most successful tournament in their history. Legacy Motor Yachts are now a kit sponsor of the GB squad, increasing awareness of the company across Europe, where handball has a massive TV following – second only to football in most European countries.
The £100,000 that the company is seeking to raise will be used to complete the development and marketing of two new boats, the Legacy Esprit 43 and the smaller 34 foot model, alongside the flagship Legacy Esprit 50.
McDermott chose to raise the funds through crowdfunding, as opposed to a typical lender due to Crowd2Fund offering a revenue loan product, which will allow for Moonraker Engineering to pay off the funds when they first start selling their products.
McDermott says, “We chose Crowd2Fund’s revenue loan, rather than giving up equity as once boat sales begin, we expect to generate revenue quickly which will allow us to pay off the liability. Typically our crafts sell in excess of £300,000 so we expect to generate a cash pile relatively quickly.”
Investment in the business comes with a range of investor perks, including a Self-Drive Charter week on one of the yauchts and a Moonraker discount. Legacy are looking for £100k investment – for more information, visit their campaign page here.
