Candela raises €30M to scale its flying electric ferry as global orders surpass 65 vessels
What's the deal? Swedish electric vessel maker Candela has raised €30M — its largest round yet — to build a second manufacturing facility in Poland and scale production of its P-12 electric hydrofoil ferry.
The round brings total funding to €129M and was led by existing investors, with a notable addition: €8M from the International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why now? The P-12 has moved well past prototype stage. The ferry is in scheduled commuter service in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, and Trondheim, where it has cut travel times and operating costs compared to diesel alternatives.
More than 65 vessels are on order globally, with deployments from March 2026 set to expand to Mumbai — where a fleet of ten P-12s will reduce travel times between Navi Mumbai Airport and the city centre from roughly two hours to 35 minutes — as well as the Maldives, Saudi Arabia's NEOM project, and Thailand.
The economics are sharpening the case. Candela's hydrofoil technology uses up to 80% less energy than conventional ferries and can cut operating costs by up to 50% — a compelling argument as oil prices climb. The company argues its vessels no longer win on green credentials alone, but on hard cost and performance metrics.
What could go wrong? Scaling advanced carbon-fibre vessel production is not straightforward. Candela is applying automotive-style serial manufacturing to an industry built on custom, small-batch construction — a shift with no established playbook in maritime. Execution risk at the new Poland facility will be real.
The company is also pushing into emerging markets where infrastructure gaps, regulatory complexity, and long procurement cycles could slow deployment timelines.
The signal: Climate-tech investment is down roughly 50% since 2021, making this raise notable on its own. The IFC's involvement is the more telling detail: the World Bank's investment arm is backing Candela specifically to deploy the technology in emerging markets, where waterways are underused not because of lack of demand, but because traditional ferries are too slow and too expensive to operate. If Candela can bring costs down through serial production — as the EV industry did with batteries — the addressable market expands dramatically.
Sources:
Tech Funding News
The Wall Street Journal
Loop Media
Startup Researcher
Electrek
Image credit:
Candela
J.V.
