AYRO Secures €19 Million Series B Financing Round Led by Blue Ocean Fund

[By: AYRO]

AYRO, the designer and manufacturer of the revolutionary OceanWings® wingsail solution for cargo ships and yachts, announced today the close of a 19.2 million € ($21 m) Series B round, led by Blue Ocean, managed by SWEN Capital Partners, which brings the total funding for the leader in Wind Powered Decarbonation solutions for the maritime sector to over 30 million €.

Existing investors Ocean Zero and Bpifrance, through its Ecotechnology 2 fund, as part of France2030 initiatives, participated in the round, alongside new investors AmInvest, Colam Impact, Normandie Participations, Normandie Littoral and FCPI Capital Innovant n°2 managed by SWEN Capital Partners. Christian Lim, Managing Director of Blue Ocean will join the board of AYRO.

This major investment in AYRO occurs at a unique moment when both the company and the market are at an inflection point. 2023 was the warmest year on record for the planet, and shipping is expected to represent up to 17% of human CO2 emissions by 2050 if no action is taken.1

“Every year, some 90,000 ships transport nine billion tons of goods globally, accounting for almost 90% of all logistics flows. Reducing the emissions of these ships is an urgent priority,” said Emmanuel Schalit, AYRO’s new CEO. “The good news is that wind is free, available on every ocean, and the technology to harness it is now mature and available.”

In July, AYRO installed 4 OceanWings® 363 wingsails on the Canopée, a groundbreaking vessel dedicated to transporting Ariane 6 space launch system components from Europe to French Guiana, which will enable a 30% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions over its regular route.