11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Hamilton Spectator
Waterloo-based ‘Flying boat' startup raises $2 million
The first E-boats that 'fly' quietly over the water using advanced hydro-foiling technology will be delivered to customers in the summer of 2026.
The Waterloo-based startup ENVGO closed a $2 million investment to take orders, partner with manufacturers and build the first boats based on the advanced prototype that was revealed in 2024.
Called the NV1, the prototype attracted the attentions of enough buyers after a couple of demonstrations on Lake Muskoka and Lake Joseph this spring.
'We are really setting up our summer to get as much exposure as we can to those early adopters up in Muskoka country,' said Mike Peasgood, who cofounded ENVGO with the engineering team that built the drone maker Aeryon Labs.
Peasgood's team will give some private demonstrations on of the fast, quiet, E-boat that rises above the water on hydrofoils and leaves behind a tiny wake. It can reach speeds of up to 80 kilometres an hour.
Muskoka cottagers include many wealthy people who routinely spend hundreds of thousands on their boats, and NVGO is focused on them for some of its first orders.
The NV1 will also be on the water for Sustainable Orillia's Electric Vehicle and E-boat Show July 27.
'The styling of NV1 make its photogenic, and we get followed by other boaters who just want to know what we are up to, and what this new boat is,' said Peasgood.
After landing a handful of orders, NVGO is looking to partner with an Ontario company with experience in making boat hulls. It is also looking for a local supplier of batteries for the NV1. The batteries for the prototype came from Europe.
Because the NV1 rises above the water on hydrofoils, it does not need as much power to operate. The NV1 does not plow through the water, it 'flies' above it.
'One of the advantages we have is that we can use batteries that are very similar to those used in the automotive sector,' said Peasgood.
'We are looking to leverage what the automotive industry has already developed,' he said.
This round of investment included two venture capital firms, Two Fish Ventures and Garage Capital. Garage Capital also invested in the first round a few years ago.
ENVGO has two main goals at this point — selling and building E-boats directly to consumers and bringing more technology into the recreational boating sector.
'Now we can get on with moving the business forward,' said Peasgood.
As e-vehicles became more popular many safety features become standard — cameras, and sensors that warn drivers when they are getting too close to other vehicles or obstacles. But so far, that technology has not been adapted to recreational boating.
'That's what we are really setting our sites on, being a technology provider into the industry,' said Peasgood.
Peasgood and his team built the drone maker Aeryon Labs, which was sold in 2019 to FLIR Systems for $200 million. In 2021, FLIR was acquired by Teledyne, an American conglomerate.
Now, he wants to bring that same kind of innovation in autonomous operations, AI and sensors to boats, he said.
