Flying carbon fiber electric vessel maker Candela raises €30 million amid soaring oil prices
Its largest-ever funding round, serial production in progress and a second facility for scalable, platform-based serial production demonstrate the continued interest and promise of Candela’s electric foiling technologies.
Source | Candela
Electric hydrofoil vessels company Candela (Stockholm, Sweden) has had its largest funding round to date. With the World Bank’s IFC arm joining existing investors, the additional €30 million will finance a second manufacturing facility to scale production of its hydrofoiling P-12 ferries — which feature carbon fiber-intensive designs — and meet growing global demand.
The round brings Candela’s total capital raised to €129 million since its inception, making it “the best-funded electric vessel manufacturer globally,” Candela reports. The company has also been named one of TIME magazine’s most important inventions of 2025. At its core is Candela’s proprietary computer-controlled hydrofoil system and C-POD motors, which lift the vessel above the water and cut energy consumption by up to 80% versus conventional ships — while producing zero wake.
“From a physics perspective, ships have been essentially the same for hundreds of years,” says Gustav Hasselskog, founder and CEO. “We’re redefining waterborne transport by creating a new category of vessel. This allows cities and municipalities to finally take full advantage of waterways while escaping the fossil-fuel cost trap that has long prevented them from being used efficiently.”
With serial production now up and running and first customer deliveries starting in March, more than 65 vessels are currently on order. From 2026, deployments are slated for Mumbai — where a fleet of ten P-12s will cut travel times from Navi Mumbai Airport to the city center from around 2 hours to 35 minutes — as well as the Maldives, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, Thailand and additional markets.
Candela is also applying scalable, platform-based serial production to advanced carbon fiber vessels, breaking from the maritime industry’s traditional reliance on one-off construction. The second factory — to be located in Poland — will make zero-emission transport more accessible to emerging markets around the world.
“By moving away from small-series production — which inevitably drives high costs — we’ve built a platform that serves multiple markets,” says Hasselskog. “This allows us to deliver technologically advanced carbon fiber vessels with operating costs at a competitive price point, freeing operators from the cost trap of fossil-fuel ships. In a market where climate tech funding is down around 50% since 2021, raising our largest round ever sends a clear signal: The transition is moving beyond subsidies and green premiums.”
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