Updates tailored to you.
Our Startup Spotlight series introduces you to the entrepreneurs in our community, sharing their unique journeys as founders.
This week, we put the spotlight on Illia Kolomoiskyi, the founder of Boatscribe, a boat rental comparison platform that helps travellers and sailors worldwide to compare and choose yacht charter offers from multiple agencies at once.
The idea for Boatscribe came from my own experience. In 2020 I moved to the Turkish Riviera and discovered yachting during COVID, when the sea was the only real freedom left. Later I realized you can easily compare flights and hotels online, but not yachts.
What began as a simple Facebook page of price comparisons grew into a platform, and with my co-founder Kyrylo Soliar, we turned it into Boatscribe, which today is ready to scale globally.
Why does the industry need the solution you’re providing?
The yacht charter industry is highly fragmented, opaque, and has seen limited growth for years. While travelers can easily compare flights, hotels, and experiences online, yachts remain difficult to search, compare, and book. Boatscribe aggregates availability and pricing from hundreds of providers, making yacht travel more transparent and accessible to a broader audience.
By attracting new, active travellers, our platform not only grows the market but also helps charter companies and brokers reach customers and unlock previously untapped demand.
What have you enjoyed most about starting your own company?
What I’ve enjoyed most is the mix of freedom and problem-solving. From discovering yachting to building Boatscribe from a simple idea into a platform used worldwide, every step has been a learning adventure.
I love turning challenges into solutions, seeing real impact on both travelers and charter partners, and shaping an industry that has been stagnant for too long.
Read more: Startup Spotlight – Smart Sail
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning?
In the beginning, the biggest challenges were gaining credibility as newcomers in a traditional industry, building the right team, and figuring out how to turn a small idea into a scalable platform. Every decision felt high-stakes, from securing partners to developing technology that meets both travelers’ and charter companies’ needs.
Within the next three years, our goal is to be the company that turns the yacht charter industry upside down. We’ve just secured a six-figure pre-seed round to accelerate our growth, and our course is clear:
Focus on solving real problems, not just building a product. Take the time to understand the industry, listen to both customers and partners, and be ready to adapt quickly, especially in a market like yachting that moves slowly but has huge potential once you find the right approach.
And a fun one, what’s a quote or some words that you live by?
Life and business are messy, mistakes happen, plans fail, LinkedIn posts don’t pay the bills. Keep learning, keep moving, and don’t take yourself too seriously.
