Hamilton hydrofoil bike maker Manta5 up for urgent sale

Hydrofoil bike maker Manta5 has been put up for urgent sale by its administrators.

An ad placed in today’s Herald by BDO said the Hamilton-based start-up, which spent somewhere north of $18 million on its aquabikes, was being sold as a going concern, with a May 8 deadline. No further details were offered.

Bright Spark Innovations, trading as Manta5, was placed in voluntary administration on April 16.

In a letter to shareholders on April the same day, the firm said it had been unable to raise fresh capital. It said voluntary administration would give it “breathing room to rapidly explore alternatives”.

Hayden Reeves recently become the first man to ride a Manta5 Hydrofoil Bike across the 26km-wide Cook Strait. Unlike an e-bike on land, you can't stop pedalling for a breather whenever you want. Gliding requires a flat sea. If there are waves, it's a case of keep pedalling, or go for a paddle.

The company experienced rapid growth but then encountered “supply chain challenges”, the letter said.

In 2021, Manta5 chief executive Mark Robotham said the firm had just closed “a $2m top-up round”.

It had sold more than 400 units of its $12,990 Hydrofoiler XE-1 aquabikes, generating some $5m in revenue, but faced ongoing supply chain issues related to the pandemic.

Large orders from hire operators could not be filled - or at least, not for months.

A plan to raise a further $6m then list on the ASX within 12 to 18 months never eventuated.

The firm had already cut staff and ceased promotional activity, the April 16 letter said.

“Yet these measures were insufficient to mitigate our financial strain,” the letter added.

In his 2021 interview, Robotham said Manta5 had 25 staff in New Zealand, two in China and four in Europe. The staff were focussed on R&D and sales The firm worked with contract manufacturers in China, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Torpedo7 founders’ new venture

Manta5 was founded by Guy Howard-Willis with his son Luke.

The pair earlier founded the outdoor goods website Torpedo7 and daily-deal site 1-Day, both of which were acquired by The Warehouse Group in 2016 in a $65m deal (earlier this year, Torpedo7 was onsold for $1).

The father and son still hold a majority stake.

Howard-Willis first had the idea for a hydrofoil bike using a combination of pedal and electric motor power in 2010.

It was first put on the market nearly a decade later.

Manta5′s bikes were an eco-friendly alternative to a jetski, but also expensive and physically exerting - if you stopped pedalling, you would struggle to stay upright if there was any chop.

Although some deals have still got over the line, venture capital has tightened considerably in the era of higher interest rates.

The administrators and Howard-Willis have been approached for comment.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.