What Scanboat does

Scanboat is an online boat marketplace operated by Open Marine SLU, a privately held Spanish limited company headquartered in Altea (Alicante), Spain. Originally founded in 1997 in Denmark as Boat4You.dk, the platform rebranded to Scanboat.com to support a multi-country European footprint and now lists boats and marine equipment across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, and Turkey, with the site available in Danish, English, German, Swedish, and Dutch.

The platform's core offering is a self-serve classifieds-style marketplace where individual sellers and professional dealers list new and used vessels — sailboats, motorboats, motorsailers, inflatables — along with boat equipment, charter listings, swap listings, and a boat dealers directory. Adjacent utility products include a saved-search email alert feature, a Boat Models database, a Stolen Boats database, and a Sailor Links directory. The marketplace architecture is conventional web-based (no mobile app, no public API) with search, listing management, and multi-language support; it has 16,473 listings as the most recent disclosed scale metric.

Monetization is narrowly concentrated on a tiered, transaction-based paid ad-highlighting service (Basic, Focus, Boost) layered on top of free listings. Payments are non-refundable and VAT-inclusive, billed on a pay-as-you-go basis per promoted listing. Customer segments are primarily individual buyers and sellers, with professional dealers/brokers as an additional persona. No external funding, parent company, leadership changes, partnerships, or recent product launches are disclosed in the source material.

Name

Scanboat

Legal name

Open Marine SLU

Website

https://scanboat.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Scanboat is a European online boat and marine-equipment marketplace operated by Spain-based Open Marine SLU, founded in 1997, that connects individual buyers, individual sellers, and professional dealers/brokers across multiple European countries. It monetizes via tiered paid ad-highlighting (Basic, Focus, Boost) on top of free listings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Alicante

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Ad Listing Services: Scanboat charges for certain options such as highlighting adverts or similar online activities. Paid options include Basic, Focus or Boost tiers to ensure ads are visible on list pages and detail pages. Payments made are non-refundable.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Scanboat operates a European online marketplace where private individuals and professional dealers list new and used sailboats, motorboats, motorsailers, and boat equipment for sale. The platform offers dedicated sections for boat swaps, boats wanted, charter, dealers/brokers, and supporting tools such as email alerts and a stolen boats database, alongside paid ad highlighting services (Basic, Focus, Boost tiers) to increase listing visibility.

Product overview

Scanboat is a European online boat marketplace operated by Open Marine SLU, a company founded in 1997. The platform offers a comprehensive boat marketplace ecosystem consisting of core services including boats for sale (new and used vessels across all types: sailboats, motorboats, motorsailers, inflatable boats), boat swap service, boats wanted listings, boat equipment marketplace, boat dealers/brokers directory, charter listings, sailor info/news, stolen boats database, boat models database, and sailor links directory. The platform also offers paid ad highlighting services (Basic, Focus, Boost tiers) and a free search agent feature that sends email alerts when matching boats are listed. The ecosystem is designed as a one-stop platform for boat buyers and sellers across Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Boat Marketplace (Boats for Sale) Online marketplace section for buying and selling new and used boats across Europe, featuring sailboats, motorboats, motorsailers, and other vessel types, with over 16,473 active listings.
• Boat Swap Service Service enabling boat owners to exchange their vessels directly with other owners through the Scanboat platform.
• Boats Wanted Listing service for buyers seeking specific boats they cannot find through standard marketplace searches.
• Boat Equipment Marketplace Dedicated section for buying and selling boat equipment, accessories, and marine gear within the Scanboat marketplace.
• Boat Dealers/Brokers Directory Directory of professional boat dealers and brokers across Europe listed within the Scanboat platform.
• Boat Charter Listings Platform section connecting users with charter services for temporary boat rentals.
• Ad Highlighting Service (Basic, Focus, Boost) Paid advertising options (Basic, Focus, Boost tiers) that increase the visibility of boat listings on list pages and detail pages, marketed as delivering faster sale results.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Rightboat: International boat listing platform with multi-country coverage and both private and dealer listings. Comparable to Scanboat's marketplace model with similar buyer/seller audience and listing tiers.
• Boat24: European online boat marketplace covering multiple countries with multi-language support, similar to Scanboat. Closely comparable in geography, target audience (private sellers and dealers), and transaction-fee monetization.
• Boat Trader: One of the largest online boat marketplaces globally, primarily serving the US market with new and used boat listings, dealer directories, and paid promotion features — directly comparable to Scanboat's core boat-for-sale marketplace and tiered ad-placement model.
• YachtWorld: Global online marketplace for yachts and boats operated by Boats Group, with strong dealer relationships and paid listing features. Directly comparable to Scanboat as a multi-country boat listing platform with tiered promotion.
• Apollo Duck: Long-established online boat and small craft listing marketplace primarily serving the UK and European markets. Closely comparable to Scanboat as a multi-country boat classifieds platform.
• Boatshed: International yacht brokerage and boat marketplace with offices in multiple countries, listing new and used boats. Comparable to Scanboat as a multi-region boat listing and brokerage platform.
• TheYachtMarket: UK-based online boat marketplace for new and used boats, with paid listing features. Comparable in offering a regional boat marketplace with both private sellers and professional dealers, similar to Scanboat's UK coverage.

Broad incumbents

• eBay (Boats category): Major global online marketplace with a sizable boats and marine-equipment category. Indirectly competes with Scanboat as a broad listings platform that includes boats among many other categories.
• Craigslist (boats category): Major classifieds platform with a boats section across multiple countries. Indirectly competes with Scanboat as a peer-to-peer listings channel for used boats and equipment.
• Boats.com: Major global boating media and marketplace site operated by Boats Group, combining editorial content with boat listings. Comparable to Scanboat in listing functionality but operates at broader scale with deeper content and dealer integrations.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/scanboat
• Xx.com/scanboat
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scanboat.com-a-s

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Scanboat