Will Smith-backed Arc launches mass-market electric sport boat for $258,000

Will Smith wins the Oscar for Best Actor in “King Richard” at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

By Akash Sriram

(Reuters) – Los Angeles-based startup Arc on Tuesday launched a new mass-market electric sport boat, months after the company backed by basketball player Kevin Durant and Hollywood star Will Smith raised $70 million in early-stage funding.

Called Arc Sport, it is priced at $258,000 and comes about two years after the company, which declined to give its valuation, launched a $300,000 premium speedboat, Arc One.

Arc Sport is 23-feet long and can accommodate 15 persons. It has a 226 kilowatt-hour battery and is powered by a 570 horsepower motor, while its software can be updated over the air. It can be reserved for $500 from Tuesday and will be delivered later this year.

“Our first mass-market boat builds on the success of the Arc One, and is targeted at the wake sport industry due to strong demand at premium price points,” CEO Mitch Lee told Reuters.

Lee said two of the best-selling models in the industry have an average sales price of about $250,000 and many others sell for more than $300,000.

Premium speedboat, Arc One, which had a smaller battery with lesser power and passenger capacity, was sold out, the company, which was founded in 2021 by former Boeing engineers Lee and Ryan Cook, said.

Cook worked at the planemaker and later was a lead engineer at Elon Musk’s rocket maker SpaceX.

The startup’s seed round, which closed in February 2021, was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Later that year it added Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and Durant’s 35V as investors.

Some engineers and staff at the firm, which designs and makes batteries, motors and software in-house, come from SpaceX, Tesla, Rivian Automotive and marine companies including Brunswick and MarineMax.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)