When Durval Tavares in 2011 first launched Aquabotix Technology Corp., an underwater-drone technology company, he entered into the recreational space.
The idea was to prove his technology before bringing it commercial, a strategy that’s largely worked well for the Fall River-based company.
“We produced underwater drones used for recreation, especially for sailors to check their anchors, or the bottom of boats,” Tavares said. “We wanted to validate the technology and to get brand recognition.”
By 2015, Aquabotix produced its first commercial product, and today does about 80 percent of its sales in the commercial space. In April, the company made an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange, which closed exceeding the maximum subscription set at about $5.5 million.
“Drones are hot,” Tavares said. “Everyone is familiar with drones above land, and on land, but underwater drones are taking off as we’re speaking.”
Aquabotix last year recorded $1.2 million in sales, and is expecting to end 2017 with about $2 million, Tavares said. The company’s commercial products have done especially well in the aquaculture, energy and potable drinking water markets.
The latter, Tavares explained, includes clients using one of the company’s commercial vehicles – such as the Aquabotix Endura – to inspect infrastructure inside of large, free-standing water tanks.
“If you look around, you’ll see a lot of these big tanks standing above ground at about 100 feet tall and 60-80 feet wide,” Tavares said. “The infrastructure inside and all the pipes have to be inspected on a regular basis.”
The Endura has the capacity of 5 knots of thrust to deal with currents, and carries a 1080p HD camera that sends live, recordable video to the operator. The inspection work, Tavares said, previously required divers, which could be more costly and complicated.
The drones are also used to help shellfishermen, as the vehicles are sent down each day to ensure nets have no rips, no fish are escaping and no predators are coming in. The work, again, previously required a diver.
“Our vehicles can do all of those things,” he said.
Aquabotix does all design, engineering, marketing and customer support in-house. The company contracts New Hampshire-based Cirtronics Corp. to build the drones.
Aquabotix does about half of its sales internationally, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. The market forces helped the decision to go public in Australia, although Tavares said doing an IPO there costs significantly less.
When asked why Tavares was headquartered locally, when so much of his business was done elsewhere, the veteran of underwater technology said it had a lot to do with the industry.
“If you look along the whole coast of Massachusetts, starting up in the North Shore and coming down to the South Shore, it’s a hot-bed for underwater technology,” he said. “If you keep going into Rhode Island and down to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center [in Newport], it’s clear this is the right spot to be for this type of technology.”
OWNER: Durval Tavares, founder and CEO (publicly traded)
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Water-based technology
LOCATION: 21 Father Devalles Blvd., Fall River
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2011
EMPLOYEES: 22
ANNUAL SALES: $1.2 million for 2016
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Durval Tavares' name.
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter
@Eli_Sherman.
