THE BLOG

Sustainable Navigation: Lanéva Establishes in the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis

Lanéva, founded in 2017, originally specialized in the manufacture of 100% electric pleasure boats. In 2020, we pivoted our model towards the retrofitting of traditional vessels into electric units, consulting on maritime and river electrification, and operating electric boats for rental for B2B partners.

The mission of the company, which has just established itself in the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, is to promote environmentally friendly navigation using zero-emission technologies in operation while advocating for adapted green energy infrastructure.

By joining the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, Lanéva benefits from an environment conducive to innovation, institutional support, and an international high-end clientele.

This establishment allows the bluetech to strengthen its visibility, forge local partnerships, and actively contribute to the ecological transition of the territory.

Interview with François Richard, co-founder and CEO of Lanéva (pictured)

What is the genesis of Lanéva?

Lanéva is a professional adventure that combines a passion for the sea and a commitment to the environment. It all started in 2017 when Marc Ronet, Maxime Pachot, and I, three professionals from the marine renewable energy sector, decided to launch this innovative project.

We met through our professional activities in the marine renewable energy sector, a field where the protection of the oceans and the production of green energy are at the heart of concerns.

For my part, being from Saint-Malo, I grew up with my feet in the water, which nurtured my particular sensitivity to the marine environment. Our project was born from this convergence between our networks, our professional skills, and our personal passion for the marine ecosystem.

In 2017, we began seriously considering the creation of a 100% electric pleasure boat. Our ambition was to design a high-quality, powerful boat while seeking alternatives to traditional materials like composites and epoxy resins, which are often harmful to the environment.

This quest led us to Italy, on the shores of Lake Como, where we found a family workshop specialized in the restoration of wooden boats. With their expertise, we built our first prototype, the “Vesper.”

It was by participating in a boat show that we realized the potential of our project. Upon returning to France, we seized the opportunity to join the startup incubator in Monaco in 2019. This step was crucial for our development. We were thus able to launch our boat at the Yacht Club de Monaco in the presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco, marking the beginning of our establishment in the Mediterranean.

Subsequently, we diversified our activities by offering boat rentals for luxury hotels on the Côte d’Azur and in Venice, and by launching retrofit projects aimed at electrifying existing boats.

Our goal is to become a major player in electric navigation, contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions and promoting environmentally friendly river and maritime navigation.

This vision guides and motivates us every day to go further.

What are the specifics of Lanéva’s offer?

Lanéva’s offer is structured around three main activities: consulting on the electrification of the maritime sector, electric and hybrid retrofit kits, and project management for conversion projects.

Regarding our consulting activities, we support maritime and river operators, ports, and hotels in their transition to sustainable mobility solutions. Our expertise in the electrification and hybridization of vessels allows us to offer tailored solutions adapted to the specific needs of each client. We conduct feasibility studies, integrate regulatory constraints specific to each navigation basin, identify the best technologies available on the market, and help prepare financing applications to facilitate this ecological transition.

Our retrofit activity involves transforming traditional motorboats into electric units. We offer this solution to professionals in passenger or freight transport and to boat owners who wish to extend the life of their vessels while reducing their environmental impact. Our retrofit projects include the complete electrification or hybridization of propulsion systems, thus modernizing existing boats with the latest green technologies.

Our offer is distinguished by its diversity and its ability to meet a wide range of needs.

We work with:

Individuals: Owners of yachts and pleasure boats interested in converting their current vessels into electric models.
Professionals: Maritime operators, ports, and transport companies wishing to electrify their fleet to reduce operating costs and CO₂ emissions.
Hotels and tourist complexes: Luxury establishments seeking to offer high-end experiences to their customers while adopting sustainable practices. We offer electric boat rental services for excursions or customer transfers, in perfect harmony with the hotels’ CSR policies.

What are the advantages of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis for Lanéva?

Establishing Lanéva within the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis offers us numerous advantages that will contribute to our development and our mission to promote sustainable navigation.

Firstly, Nice Côte d’Azur is a recognized innovation hub with an ecosystem favorable to startups and technology companies. The presence of structures like the Innovation Hub of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis facilitates synergies and partnerships.

The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis shows a strong commitment to the blue economy and the ecological transition. We benefit from various institutional supports to accompany an innovative company like ours.

Nice and its surroundings are sought-after destinations by tourists from around the world, offering international visibility to our brand. The proximity to Monaco, Cannes, and other prestigious ports allows us to reach a high-end clientele seeking unique and environmentally friendly experiences.

Our electric boats, offered for rental to luxury hotels and private excursions, perfectly meet this demand. The numerous high-end establishments and recent openings of new luxury hotels create opportunities for our electric water mobility services.

The ports of Nice, Cannes, and Monaco, for example, are strategic anchorage points for our operations. Moreover, the willingness of port authorities to develop electric charging solutions and green infrastructure supports our mission to promote sustainable mobility.

With the presence of the Pôle Mer Méditerranée and research and higher education organizations, we benefit from access to a network of researchers, engineers, and experts in maritime and environmental technologies, which accelerates our innovation capacity.

Finally, the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis hosts major events in our sector. The recent announcement of the Nice Boating Tomorrow event in 2025 will be a key event dedicated to innovation and sustainability in the nautical sector. Participating in this event allows us to present our cutting-edge solutions and forge strategic partnerships.

Moreover, the holding of the United Nations Conference on the Ocean in 2025 in Nice represents a unique opportunity to promote our initiatives and contribute to global discussions on ocean protection.

These events consolidated in our calendar illustrate the territory’s commitment to the blue economy and sustainability, and we are proud to actively participate in them.

How does Team Nice Côte d’Azur support you?

Team Nice Côte d’Azur supports us in developing our network within the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis as part of promoting the territory’s blue economy.

Hervé Laubertie, General Director of Team Nice Côte d’Azur, is a valuable support. He invited us to several events, including one in Cannes, where I was able to meet and exchange with other entrepreneurs from the region and companies recently established in the Metropolis. These networking opportunities have been extremely beneficial for creating synergies and exploring new collaboration opportunities.

In parallel, Stefano Cimmarusti, Head of Project Development, organized several working sessions to understand our specific needs and identify how he could help us. Thanks to his efforts, we are working to establish potential strategic partnerships with luxury hotels and ports in the territory.

Thus, the support of Team Nice Côte d’Azur and the services of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis has been essential for our integration and future development in the territory.

What are Lanéva’s development projects?

We are constantly seeking new opportunities to strengthen our position in the field of electric and sustainable navigation. Our development projects focus on several strategic axes, aiming to expand our offer, innovate technologically, and strengthen our market presence.

We are actively working to increase our visibility among local actors. We want maritime operators, ports, and luxury hotels to know our expertise and be aware that we are capable of supporting them in their transition to electric mobility solutions.

Retrofitting, or the transformation of thermal boats into electric units, is a major development axis for Lanéva. We aim to expand this activity by collaborating with maritime operators and ports to electrify their fleets of service and passenger transport boats. This project includes not only the conversion of engines but also the optimization of charging infrastructure to support these new electric units.

We want to strengthen our offer of electric boat rental services for luxury hotels on the Côte d’Azur. Our goal is to develop partnerships with high-end establishments to offer their customers excursions and transfers in electric boats, providing a unique and ecological experience. We envision setting up fleets of high-end maritime shuttles dedicated to hotels to facilitate customer travel while reducing the carbon footprint.

We are also exploring innovative economic models such as the mutualization of boat ownership. The idea is to offer shared fleets where several users can access the same boat through a subscription system. This would optimize the use of boats, reduce the number of vessels needed, and lower costs for users. This “boat sharing” model could be particularly attractive in a region like the Côte d’Azur, where the demand for flexible and sustainable navigation solutions is high.

We continuously invest in research and development to improve our technologies and introduce new boat models. This includes optimizing battery systems, integrating even more durable materials, and improving the performance of electric motors. Our ambition is to offer boats that are always more powerful, reliable, and environmentally friendly.

To support our growth, we plan to recruit new talent in both technical and commercial fields. We aim to increase our team by three to four additional people within three years to meet growing demand and support our development projects.