- E1 hopes to attract female celebrity owners to improve diversity
- Basso wants championship to grow to 15 races per season with 12 celebrity owners
E1, the all-electric powerboat championship, is targeting €20 million (US$23.6 million) in its next funding round as it seeks to reach a valuation of €500 million (US$588.7 million) within the next five years.
Ahead of a showcase run on the River Thames in London on 2nd July, the series’ founder and chief executive Rodi Basso spoke to select media, including BlackBook Motorsport, about E1’s ambitions for future growth.
“We are going through a fundraise because we want to built another set of boats and place them, for example, in Miami,” he explained.
“We want to get to 15 races and so far we haven’t flown the assets. We only use shipping and trucks [for logistics]. If we have another set of boats, we can think of having a race in Miami and two weeks [later] being in Singapore.”
The 2025 E1 season currently features seven races, so Basso is eyeing considerable expansion. The successful acquisition of additional funds would increase the opportunities available to E1 without compromising its sustainability goals.
Basso confirmed that the series is seeking around €20 million in investment “not only to build new boats, but also to reinforce marketing activities and strengthen the commercial sales force”.
E1 is using Rothschild & Co as an advisor in the fundraising process. So far, the opportunity has been pitched to around 50 family offices and venture capital firms, as well as 20 management firms – five of which have progressed to a second round of discussions.
Basso said E1 expects to have more clarity on potential investors by the Monaco race on 19th July.
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It is nonetheless notable that E1 is targeting external investment despite being backed by the deep pockets of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). However, Basso argued that this relationship needed to be separated sometimes.
“First of all, [PIF’s] strategy generally is trying not to top up [investment], so to keep a certain share and go for the long term,” he explained. “In the meantime, they recognise that if you get a new strategic stakeholder in the mix it will help the company to do even better.”
Ultimately, this approach aims to support E1’s goal of reaching a €500 million valuation by the end of the decade – something Basso admitted the series is still less than halfway toward.
A major pillar of E1’s approach lies in its roster of celebrity team owners, including LeBron James, Rafael Nadal and Tom Brady. These figures are not only investing in the championship but are also instrumental in promoting it to their global fanbases.
Basso noted that “in an intangible way, they play an important role,” adding that without their involvement the series would not have the same reach. As part of their agreement, celebrity owners are required to post on social media before, during and after each race.
Keeping these high-profile figures engaged will be crucial to E1’s long-term success. Basso also revealed plans to launch celebrity-branded merchandise and a Netflix-style docuseries centred around their personalities.
E1 currently consists of nine teams, but Basso confirmed “we know that we’re going to get to 12”, implying that interest remains strong. Still, he stressed that “it has to be a quality celeb” for E1 to consider further expansion due to the current team format deemed to be working well.
Given E1’s well-publicised commitment to gender diversity – which sees each team required to field both a male and female pilot – BlackBook Motorsport asked how this squares with the championship’s all-male ownership group.
“We want to impose on ourselves that one of the team owners needs to be a female owner, so there are some elements that you need to address and we live in it, and then it’s down to us to make it happen,” Basso answered.
“A female presence would be a plus, but it’s definitely not easy. I confess, because there’s nothing to hide here, that our board is only male. It’s only five people, so hopefully the new investor, when and if he comes, will introduce also the female presence which is important.”
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