Celebrity backers of Arc include actor Will Smith, NBA star Kevin Durant and hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Arc, a startup led by former SpaceX engineers and developing electric boats, announced its $30 million Series A raise led by Greg Reichow, a former Tesla VP of Production, now at Eclipse Ventures. Existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital and Ramtin Naimi’s Abstract Ventures also participated in the funding. Will Smith’s Dreamers VC, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Combs Enterprises, all previous investors, also chipped in. (Forbes)
CEO Mitch Lee and CTO Ryan Cook, a former SpaceX engineer, founded Arc earlier this year.
The round will help Arc get its limited edition, $300,000 boat – the Arc One – on the water by spring of 2022. At 24 feet, the 10-seater boat is driven by 200 kwh lithium-ion battery packs that can keep it going for up to five hours. The battery delivers 475 horsepower and a maximum speed of 40 mph.
According to Lee, compared to gas-powered boats, electric boats are more reliable, quieter, easier to maintain, more environment-friendly and cost effective.
“The hard part is producing an electric boat that can compete with a gas boat on performance and price—and more importantly producing them at scale,” Lee added. “Greg and the team at Eclipse have a wealth of experience making the difficult transition from R&D to high-rate production and can help us do just that.”
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