The R & D team of the intelligent hydrofoil boat has received angel-round financing from Li Zexiang. The new energy trend is blowing towards water travel | Exclusive from Hard Krypton

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Peng Xiaoqiu

Yingke learned that Yushui Flying (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yushui Flying") recently completed an angel round of financing of nearly ten million yuan. The investor is the XBOTPARK Fund founded by Professor Li Zexiang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"Yushui Flying" is a technology company focusing on the research, development and application of high - performance intelligent hydrofoil boats for consumer and industrial use. The founder and CEO, Wu Guan, is a joint - trained master from the University of Genoa and the Polytechnic University of Milan. Later, he went to the University of Kuala Lumpur to pursue a doctorate in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. He has participated in many national and international design projects, including the 128 - meter barge in Anhui, the No. 1 Jiuzhou Bay in Zhuhai, and the global trimaran sailboat, with more than ten years of experience in ship design. Many core members of the team have profound technical accumulations and rich productization experience in fields such as ship design, composite materials, and intelligent control, and possess interdisciplinary systematic innovation capabilities.

Intelligent Boat Experience Day at Shenzhen Institute of Technology and Innovation (Source: Company)

In recent years, affected by global climate change and the "dual - carbon" goal, new - energy ships have become the core direction of the transformation of the shipping industry, and the market scale has shown explosive growth. According to reports from CRI and other institutions, the global electric boat market reached 63.235 billion yuan in 2024 and is expected to exceed 119 billion yuan by 2030. As the core growth pole, China's lithium - battery penetration rate is expected to reach 20% in 2025, with a market scale of 55 billion yuan.

However, in actual application scenarios, as the core indicators of water transportation, there is a significant performance gap between electric boats and fuel - powered boats in terms of endurance and seaworthiness. Under the same technical indicators, when a fuel - powered boat and an electric boat are equipped with the same weight of energy, a fuel - powered cruise ship can travel 200 kilometers, while an ordinary electric boat can only travel 30 - 50 kilometers.

To achieve a cruising range comparable to that of fuel - powered boats, it is necessary to increase the hull size and battery capacity, which in turn leads to a continuous increase in hardware costs, becoming a prominent pain point commonly faced by the industry.

In contrast, the hydrofoil structure can significantly improve the energy - saving performance of ships. Wu Guan, the founder and CEO of "Yushui Flying", told Yingke that compared with ordinary ships, the highlight of the hydrofoil structure is that it can use the principle of fluid mechanics to lift the hull out of the water, which not only reduces resistance but also ensures its stability. At the same time, under the same technical indicators, its measured cruising range can reach 80 kilometers, twice that of traditional electric boats, breaking through the technical bottlenecks of high energy consumption and low efficiency of traditional ships.

Yushui Flying's hydrofoil boat being tested on the Dasha River in Shenzhen (Source: Company)

The core difficulty in hydrofoil boat research and development lies in the high - level integration of fields such as hydrodynamics, fluid mechanics, and ship design. It requires in - depth knowledge of multiple disciplines such as motion simulation, aerodynamics, and fluid mechanics, and belongs to a typical cross - disciplinary field.

In the past decade or so, European and American markets such as Sweden, Canada, and France have been involved in the implementation, application, and sales of related products. In China, due to the relatively slow development of the yacht industry and C - end products, there has long been a lack of motivation for technological research and development and breakthroughs in the small - boat field.

Noticing this market opportunity, "Yushui Flying" began to research and develop high - performance intelligent hydrofoil boats in 2024. Currently, the first product has been launched, and angel orders have been received and are being delivered. In terms of product configuration, the team has integrated the aircraft design concept into the ship. The carbon - fiber composite hull reduces energy consumption. The intelligent system uses sensors to sense the water flow in real - time and dynamically adjusts the hydrofoil angle like an "automatic balancer" to ensure the hull is as stable as an airplane when turning.

This project has overcome the complex problems of fluid mechanics and ship design. Through the interaction between the hydrofoil mechanism and the water flow, the boat can lift off the water surface with the help of the hydrofoil lift like an airplane, reducing resistance. The intelligent control system of "Yushui Flying" can sense the water environment in real - time and automatically adjust the hydrofoil angle to ensure the stability of the hull at high - speed.

Open Day in Songshan Lake, Dongguan

Previously, most products in the industry used metal components and were relatively heavy. An overweight hull requires a larger battery to increase the propulsion power, which contradicts the pursuit of lightweight design in new - energy ships to reduce energy consumption and improve endurance.

In response, "Yushui Flying" uses composite materials, builds the hull configuration with carbon fiber, and conducts systematic testing and optimization of the yield strength, overall strength, and hull structural strength of the materials. The total weight of the product is controlled at 800 kilograms, achieving the highest cost - performance ratio in the same class.

In terms of autonomous driving, "Yushui Flying" has developed a control algorithm. The sensors collect data in real - time, and the on - board sensors capture environmental information such as water flow and water area. After various test data are transmitted to the central processor, the system can accurately and dynamically adjust the navigation attitude and hydrofoil angle according to the multi - dimensional coupling of the dynamic equations.

Customized services are available for the boats (Source: Company)

Yingke learned that "Yushui Flying" plans to achieve phased sales targets in the domestic and European - American markets in the next few years. In the domestic market, it will focus on coastal scenic areas and serve B - end customers such as cultural and tourism groups and the government.

In the overseas market, it will focus on customer groups such as yacht clubs and shipping companies in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, expanding private yacht and green shipping scenarios. At the same time, it will cover island transportation and special transportation scenarios in Europe and provide direct product sales to tourism platforms and logistics and transportation enterprises. Through precise layout in different segments, it will gradually expand market penetration to promote the implementation and application of products in diverse domestic and international scenarios.