Romanian Neogen Group took over 9.4% of US Sailo.com shares

By Edwig Ban
Romanian Neogen announced on Thursday that it acquired 9.4% of US Sailo.com shares, a marketplace that can rent boats from over 100 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
Neogen is thus entering the still tiny but very dynamic market of boat rentals, estimated to reach $ 70 billion worldwide in 2022, 65% above the $ 45 billion mark in 2018.
“Perceived as a niche reserved only for those with high and high income, boat renting has the potential because it is becoming more and more accessible not only to those who have a passion for sailing but also to groups or families who want to spending an offshore holiday at times similar to or even lower than hotel costs, “says Călin Fusu, founder of Neogen.
“The market has gained momentum and will grow more and more in the coming years, and although most of the business in the field comes from the US, two-thirds of the market is generated by Europe,” said Adrian Grădinariu, founder of Sailo.
The Company Sailo Inc. was set up in the US in 2015 by a Romanian entrepreneur, Adrian Grădinariu, who spent more than 10 years in Silicon Valley to move to New York and build the Sailo.com online platform to rent craft of all types and sizes, anywhere in the world.
Headquartered in New York and Miami, Sailo currently has more than 10,000 active craft boats, ranging from speedboats, sailing boats to luxury yachts and charters. In addition, customers can also opt for other related services, such as renting a boat together with an accredited skipper or even an extended crew.
Neogen SA was founded in 2000 and specialized in the development of successful marketplace business in the online area, the most important being BestJobs, Vivre, Clever Taxi (sold in the meantime to Daimler), iTaxi (Moldova) Frisbo, Conso.ro and Casta.ro.