Telecommunications engineer José Manuel Arnaiz (62 years old) was one of the first to detect how his sector was going to change our lives.
However, neither Jazztel, nor DigiMobil, nor any other of the dozen companies he has founded tried to do so linked to his passion for the sea: “My father created that bond for me.
I've been sailing for as long as I can remember and it's one of those few things in life that I do as much as I can.
A few years ago I told my friend Miguel Ángel Santos (52 years old), why don't we create a technology-based solution for all of us who go out to sea? ”, He tells in an interview with EL PAÍS.
Said and done, ShoreView adds 100,000 downloads in just three years and for thousands of people it has begun to become what Arnaiz and Santos devised together with the third co-founder and businessman, Javier Lasarte (39 years old):
The opportunity was twofold: “The sea is full of uncertainties for those who go out 2, 3 or 10 times a year, for those who are not fishermen or merchants.
Everything works by means of 2D navigation charts and, in general, recreational nautical is a sector with little technology, especially if we talk about tools available to anyone”.
ShoreView is free and part of its success lies in collaboration, with an average of 1,000 daily alerts posted by its own users.
The warnings point out areas where divers, jellyfish banks or floating debris are found, among other ephemeral threats.
A service available to 240 million boaters, 35 million surfers or 15 million divers are the target audience of this application.
But who is currently using ShoreView?
Currently focused on two geographical areas, the Caribbean and the western Mediterranean, “users are all kinds of sailors.
There are professional types, captains of rental boats and people in the service of this type of boat.
But for example, we recently spoke with an American kayaker who has traveled miles and is delighted with the app.
We have also heard this summer from a paddle surf school that recommends it because, for inexperienced people, going a mile away from the starting point can be nerve-wracking.
Something simple that is easily solved with ShoreView.
It is useful for people with jet skis or with a small recreational boat”, says Arnaiz.
The truth is that when you open the app in the middle of the sea, augmented reality combines last-minute alerts, weather and geological information with commercial messages.
On the route through an unexpected place, we can also know where a nearby gas station, a restaurant or all kinds of nautical services are.
And this is only the first of the scales of a company with headquarters in Valencia and a dozen workers, because, despite the fact that the year of its foundation is 2019, the founders have already given the first change of direction by expanding their services with a new structure: SeaCoast.
In November, ShoreView will become part of this umbrella of boating services alongside PortView and PaperBoat.
The first of these is the maritime solution most similar to the 'how to get there' function within Google Maps, since 70% of accidents with rented or borrowed boats occur precisely at the moment of mooring.
The second is a mooring reserve manager connected to the marina and yacht club management system, subsidized by Puertos del Estado.
A service that, until now, in addition to being quite cumbersome, required the sending of documentation and digital certificates, but which this application ensures turns into an experience similar to hotel reservation, with a price comparator and encrypted files.
SeaCoast has also decided to combine its services with
blockchain
technology .
"We don't think of tokens as a possibility to capture resources, but as a way by which we can promote some services and boost the recurrence of users on the platform," concludes Arnaiz.
A community that they also manage through Telegram and that aims to reward the most active users.
“When I founded DigiMobil, none of the business plans contemplated that we would reach four million clients as we do today.
With SeaCoast I don't want to fix what the destination port will be.
Our ambition is maximum because, in just three years, the wind has only been favourable”.
