Candela gets backing from TED Curator Chris Anderson

Swedish tech company Candela Speed Boat AB, which makes the world’s first all-electric hydrofoil speedboat that significantly reduces energy consumption and boasts a nearly 60-mile range, has received significant financial backing from Chris Anderson, the curator of TED Conferences LLC.

“We’re at a crucial moment on the journey toward a clean, sustainable future,” Anderson says. “All forms of transport need to switch to clean energy. It looks like the electrification of cars has gathered unstoppable momentum. Boats are lagging, but perhaps not for much longer. I was thrilled to discover Candela, a company which, after five years of intense R&D, is delivering beautiful boats with the elusive combination of both speed and range — all-electric — thanks to an ingenious hydrofoil design. I’m incredibly excited at the potential of this technology over the coming years.”

“I am proud and grateful to have Chris on board”, says Gustav Hasselskog, Founder and CEO of Candela. “He is a great humanist, visionary and promoter of ideas for a better world who also happens to be an accomplished entrepreneur. This investment will allow us to greatly accelerate our R&D activities and help speed up the transition away from fossil fuel on our lakes and oceans.”

The company’s first product is the Candela Seven, a 25-foot speed boat that flies above chop and swells thanks to hydrofoils – small wings – under the hull. At 17 knots, the hydrofoils lift the entire hull above the surface, which reduces energy consumption by 80 percent compared to traditional, planing boat hulls. At a cruise speed of 20 knots, the Candela Seven is able to travel 57 miles on one charge– two times further than any other electric boat on the market and with only one-third of the battery capacity.

Candela Speed Boat AB was founded by engineer and entrepreneur Gustav Hasselskog in 2014. After five years of R&D, Candela began mass production of its first product, the Candela Seven, in 2019. The Seven is built at the company’s factory in Stockholm, Sweden. The 35-strong team consists of some of the leading experts in their respective fields with backgrounds from Eurocopter (structural composite engineering), fighter jet Saab Gripen (flight control electronics), Artemis and Oracle racing (hydrodynamics), Scania (transmission & hydraulics) and some of the world’s leading universities (dynamic modeling and software algorithms)