Yacht booking site Nautal acquires competitor Incrediblue

Incrediblue, a UK-based online yacht booking service, has been acquired by Spanish rival Nautal. No terms were disclosed.

This marks Nautal's first acquisition. Incrediblue, which has raised $2.6 million in funding, has been active throughout a number of markets, namely in the Mediterranean and especially in Greece. The combined comapny will now manage more than 90% of the available fleet of charter yachts in much of Europe.

Nautal added in a statement that it will seek more acquisitions in a bid to further consolidate the market under one brand.

“The acquisition of the market leader in Greece positions us strongly in one of the most important European travel markets,” said CEO Octavi Uyà,

The deal will improve Nautal’s business outside of Europe too, he explained, pointing to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Miami. Moving forward, Incrediblue will be Nautal’s luxury charter brand, listing both operators’ vessels.

“In this way, boat owners and yachts listed on Incrediblue will remain on the platform, along with the yachts that we currently have at nautal.com. Meanwhile, other boat types at Incrediblue will also be transferred to Nautal, allowing boat owners to achieve a larger reservation volume thanks to a greater web presence,” explained Uyà.

Incrediblue CEO Antonios Fiorakis will join Nautal’s advisory board.

“Although, a large majority of yacht charter reservations are still made offline, everything points to the fact that in the next five years, this trend will change exponentially towards online consumption, and I am confident that Nautal and Incrediblue together will be the leader in this consumer travel market,” he said.