Start-ups Take Centre Stage at METSTRADE 2026
With the Genoa International Boat Show now over, the attention of industry professionals and boating enthusiasts is turning to the next major event on the calendar: METSTRADE, the world’s leading B2B exhibition for marine equipment and accessories, scheduled to take place at RAI Amsterdam from 17 to 19 November.
Spread across eleven halls at RAI Amsterdam, the exhibition is once again expected to be a major event, with one of its main attractions being the start-up area, organised in collaboration with Yachting Ventures.
In fact, two areas will be dedicated to innovative technology companies: one in Hall 5, focusing on recreational boating, and another in Hall 9, specifically reserved for the superyacht sector. The latter, launched last year, has already been confirmed for 2027. Both areas will be sponsored by Fort Insurance.
Hall 5 will host AirLens Ltd, Cadentia Technologies, Fetch, Kaiman Marine, Marine Management, Mirai S.p.A., Northern Light S.r.l., NzeroWax, OZ venture – Sea Mop, Primum d.o.o., SensiBlue, SWAY, TONJO and WOW – Works on Water.
In Hall 9, visitors will find Leak Stop Gun, MAIT Tech, Massive Marine, Sea It, The Galley Table and Zaefarer.
To encourage networking, two informal drinks receptions with the participating companies have also been scheduled. The first will take place on Tuesday, 17 November, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm in the superyacht area, while the second will be held on Wednesday, 18 November, at the same time in the leisure marine area.
Henrik Dahl, co-founder of Finland-based Cadentia, explains: "Boat brands treat selling, delivering and owning as separate jobs. We see one relationship. At Metstrade we're presenting AION, an AI-powered digital product that connects customer, dealer and boatbuilder from first enquiry through delivery to ownership and service. Every boat gets its own digital product record, and customer engagement agents support buyers, dealers and owners at every stage, through an app or right at the helm. We're at Metstrade to meet marine OEMs ready to build a direct relationship with their owners."
Yarik Sychov of MAIT Systems comments: “MAIT started from a very practical problem I encountered working as a Chief Engineer. Modern machinery already produces a huge amount of data and telemetry, but in many cases we only use a fraction of its real value. MAIT collects and retains that telemetry and adds an intelligence layer on top of it, using historical baselines, trend and drift analysis, and AI-assisted diagnostics to help engineers better understand how their machinery is actually behaving. You can also think of it as giving the machinery the ability to analyze its own operational data and better communicate its condition to the operator.
I chose to participate in METSTRADE because I think it is the right place to take MAIT beyond the environment where it was originally developed and put it in front of the wider marine industry. The Start-Up Area gives a small company like ours the opportunity to meet engineers, equipment manufacturers, vessel operators and service providers, hear their take on our solution, and find out where this technology can provide the most value.”
Laura Duggan is CEO and co-founder of Fetch Energy, a British start-up specialising in wave energy: “We are a start-up in wave power and we have unique technology that allows us to create compact, floating energy platforms, powered by the movement of waves. We are a UK based start-up, we formed in 2024 and have spent the last two years perfecting our technology and design. We found speaking to marinas, electric/hybrid vessel operators and other marine users that they were facing long and costly delays to grid expansion to allow them to expand their berths and provide the right amount of power when and where they need it., so we designed our product Mantis - which combines the power of waves, solar and battery to solve those problems. Now we are coming to METSTRADE to officially launch! We are very excited to show Mantis to potential customers, partners and suppliers at METSTRADE and to meet others interested in solving the problem of providing power at sea.”
Riccardo Masnata