Former employees of Changan Eado founded a consumer-grade intelligent boat company and secured new financing within half a year | Hard Krypton Exclusive

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

Hard Kr has learned that Anlan Power Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Anlan Power") recently completed tens of millions of yuan in an Angel ++ round of financing. This round was exclusively invested by Nanshan Strategic and Emerging Industry Investment. This is the third round of financing completed by the company within less than a year of its establishment. The funds will be mainly used to supplement the core R & D and mass - production team with talents, simultaneously initiate overseas brand building and channel expansion, and make preparations for the delivery of BETA prototypes for seed - user testing in the second half of the year.

As the new - energy land vehicles enter a stock game, a blue - ocean market that has long been monopolized by Europe and the United States is awakening. With the continuous tightening of global water - area environmental protection policies, the increasing maturity of electrification technology, and the rising acceptance of smart hardware among young users, consumer - grade leisure boats are at the critical point of electrification and intelligent transformation, becoming another revolutionary track after new - energy vehicles.

A clear industry trend has emerged: shifting from traditional fuel - powered mechanical boats to a new generation of water vehicles that are electrically intelligent, easy to operate, and low - maintenance. The shift in user demand has presented a structural opportunity window for Chinese hardware companies.

Anlan Power was founded in 2025 by several former employees of Yidong Technology, a globally leading enterprise in marine electric propulsion equipment. The core team comes from institutions such as XPeng Motors, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Dongguan University of Technology, and the University of Southampton. The team members' backgrounds cover robotics, three - electric systems, vehicle intelligent architecture, boat manufacturing, and the passenger - car supply chain.

The team entered the market through the motorboat category, targeting the global consumer - grade boat market worth 50 billion US dollars. Focusing on scenarios such as private entertainment, enthusiasts, and commercial operations, they hope to provide users with a more worry - free, convenient, safe, and clean water - vehicle experience through a new product definition.

Anlan Power's electric intelligent motorboat (Image source/Enterprise)

"More than 200,000 new motorboats are added globally each year, with a total inventory of 2.8 million. However, just three sizes can cover 95% of the market. With individual users being the main customers, low usage frequency, and the possibility of home charging, the scale, standardization level, and infrastructure adaptability make it the best breakthrough point for the implementation of water - surface intelligence." Li An, the founder and CEO of Anlan Power, told Hard Kr. "What we aim to do is not to create an electric substitute for a fuel - powered motorboat, but to enable boats to truly have eyes, a heart, a brain, limbs, and a nervous system through new technology stacks."

Currently, Anlan Power has launched two Alpha prototypes and completed multiple rounds of high - intensity tests. Core performance indicators such as maximum speed and acceleration performance have exceeded those of overseas competitors in the same class. The company has entered the R & D iteration phase of Beta prototypes and the stage of collecting feedback from seed users. The engineering convergence work before mass production is also being advanced simultaneously.

Focusing on users' real - life usage scenarios, the R & D team mainly focuses on solving two key pain points: one is the thermal management ability during continuous high - speed driving, and the other is the performance during instantaneous rapid acceleration. For the five key indicators of continuous operation ability, acceleration response speed, energy - consumption control level, thermal management efficiency, and stability under low - battery conditions, in - depth tuning and repeated verification of the Beta prototypes are carried out to ensure that the products still have sufficient power and stable operation under extreme scenarios.

Conceptual diagram of Anlan Power's motorboat automatic recharging (Image source/Enterprise)

After solving the underlying problems of power performance, the intelligent aspect is also being advanced simultaneously. Anlan Power has initiated a research and development plan for assisted driving, including forward collision avoidance, low - speed berthing assistance, environmental perception, sensor fusion, and real - boat data collection. This will fundamentally lower the operation threshold of water vehicles, enabling users with little operation experience to drive safely, and providing underlying support for the safety assistance ability and overall intelligent experience of subsequent products.

As product R & D enters the engineering implementation and production verification stage, Anlan Power is building a more coordinated supply - chain system. The company adheres to full - stack self - research of the three - electric core system. On this basis, it opens up a cooperation system for key modules such as hull structural parts, molding dies, on - board charging, intelligent sensors, and vehicle manufacturing processes. It actively introduces leading suppliers with experience in large - scale vehicle - level mass production and delivery, achieving pre - intervention and joint development from design, verification to mass - production processes, and ensuring product consistency, reliability, and delivery efficiency with a mature manufacturing system.

Li An pointed out to Hard Kr, "Relying on the advantages of China's mature new - energy passenger - car supply chain, the company can break through the efficiency bottleneck of traditional boat manufacturing and achieve large - scale delivery with high quality, rapid iteration, and stable controllability. This is a core competitiveness that traditional European and American boat enterprises are difficult to replicate."

The following is an excerpt from an interview between Hard Kr and Li An, the founder of Anlan Power (slightly edited):

Hard Kr: What stage is the company's product R & D at currently?

Li An: After the completion of the Alpha prototypes, the company will next enter the PVT (Production Validation Test) stage. The core of PVT is no longer performance tuning. It focuses on verifying the production process, assembly process, quality consistency, and convenience of after - sales maintenance. This includes mold development, assembly - line design, and definition of assembly procedures, all of which need to be verified at this stage.

After entering the DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT stages, our R & D focus has shifted from "can it run" to "run stably and strongly". Next, the company will produce dozens of Beta prototypes in small batches and deliver them to three types of seed users for actual testing: first, domestic individual enthusiasts and yacht owners; second, operating users such as water clubs; third, professional racing teams - they can provide the most extreme driving feedback to help us quickly converge on the reliability, stability, safety, and interactive experience of the products.

Anlan Power's electric intelligent motorboat (Image source/Enterprise)

During the actual testing process, continuous operation ability, rapid - acceleration response, energy - consumption control, thermal management efficiency, and stability under low - battery conditions will be the core indicators for repeated refinement of the Beta prototypes. Our goal is clear: to ensure that the products remain stable and reliable under extreme conditions such as high temperature and continuous high - speed operation.

Hard Kr: What specific plans does Anlan Power have in terms of intelligence? What do these functions mean for ordinary users?

Li An: Our intelligent layout is clearly divided into three software systems. The first is embedded software, which is based on self - developed hardware for underlying communication, protocols, and core control logic. The second is algorithm software. At present, it focuses on two practical functions - collision - avoidance warning and intelligent berthing. The relevant algorithms will be continuously trained and iterated after the hardware is finalized. The third is front - end interactive software, similar to an in - vehicle intelligent cockpit, mainly for the interactive experience between the screen and the mobile APP. It is developed based on the Android open - source system, without self - developing the operating system again.

The most core value of these intelligent designs is to significantly lower the operation threshold for ordinary users.

Traditional fuel - powered motorboats have a whole set of pre - departure checklists similar to those before an airplane takes off. Items such as the oil circuit, spark plugs, and cooling water need to be checked item by item, and novices simply dare not operate them. In contrast, Anlan Power realizes self - inspection of the status, active reminders on the APP, and even remote service suggestions through intelligent diagnosis and automatic sensor detection, completely simplifying the complex process.

At the same time, our product functions also provide multi - mode driving, including cruise mode (novice mode), sports mode, and extreme mode. Beginner enthusiasts can start from the gentle and easy - to - control cruise mode, and the system will guide them to gradually unlock higher performance, ensuring both safety and a clear growth experience.

Seed users are experiencing the product at sea (Image source/Enterprise)

Hard Kr: As a large - scale water - based hardware product with high R & D thresholds and long cycles, what difficulties does it face in building the supply chain? Can the mature supply chain of passenger cars be directly transferred and reused?

Li An: We adopt a model of self - developed core + open ecosystem. We adhere to full - stack self - research of the core architecture and algorithms of the three - electric system, and conduct joint R & D on peripheral hardware. This is our core barrier in terms of power and energy consumption and the basis for the continuous iteration of subsequent products. In addition, we fully open up cooperation in aspects such as thermal management, propulsion systems, hull structural parts, molds, charging systems, electronics and electrical systems, sensors, and manufacturing processes, and introduce top - tier suppliers with mature mass - production experience to participate deeply in advance.

Currently, most of the passenger - car supply chain can be reused by us, as the development platforms of the power systems are consistent. However, there are also key differences between the two. The power of passenger cars is transmitted from the drive shaft to the tires, while the structural characteristics of Anlan's products involve double - layer media of air and water and dynamic fluid characteristics, which require exclusive know - how for water - area scenarios. In addition, through simulation coupling and optimization of control strategies, we can expect to increase the system efficiency by more than 20%, which is also a differentiated advantage that can only be established by a team that understands boats and water - area scenarios.