French startup seeks investment to scale smart anchor buoy

A French startup is seeking investment to accelerate sales and product development after bringing a new approach to anchor monitoring to market.

Mooring Solution has developed Morphéis, a smart buoy designed to monitor the position of a yacht’s anchor rather than the position of the yacht itself. The company, which recently exhibited at the 2026 Cannes Yachting Festival, says this addresses a weakness in conventional anchor alarms, which can trigger when a boat swings around a correctly set anchor.

The two French founders, both with engineering roots, have spent around three years developing the product and began selling it commercially in mid-2025.

The company is based in Cannes, while the product is manufactured in Marseille. The business currently covers the design, production and commercialisation of Morphéis itself, working with partners where required.

Monitoring the anchor

Morphéis is deployed with the anchor and floats above it. Inside the buoy is an electronic system incorporating GPS, a solar panel and a battery. Full details are available on the company’s website.

The GPS position is used to establish the location of the anchor. Information is transmitted to a receiver on board the boat, which sounds an alarm if the anchor moves.

The system can also send an alert to the owner’s phone, meaning the skipper can be notified when away from the boat.

Currently, the team is selling directly to consumers, specifically owners of boats between 40 and 60ft. The unit retails at €1,500 including tax.

From direct sales to a wider marine market

The founders say they have not yet approached the major boatbuilders directly with the product, although they have exhibited Morphéis at Metstrade and other shows.

Boat builders represent one of the potential next stages as Mooring Solution seeks to move beyond its current consumer sales model, with investment sought to accelerate wider sales and continue development of the product.

The target is for the business to sell around 300 units during 2027, with nearly 200 units expected to have been sold by the middle of the year (twice the volume expected to be achieved in 2026).

Development priorities

A small operation built around its two founders, Mooring Solution has developed the product itself, from design through production and commercialisation, while using external partners where needed.

The buoy is made from HDPE (high-density polyethylene), a strong plastic intended for marine use with seawater capabilities.

The next major development priority is connectivity with Starlink to service the increasing number of boat owners who would prefer to receive an app notification rather than an SMS alert.

The company’s immediate challenge is therefore one of scaling: turning an independently developed product with an established direct customer base into a larger marine technology business, while developing the connectivity and additional onboard applications that could broaden its market.

Morphéis has entered an emerging smart-anchor-monitoring category rather than an entirely untried market.

Slovenian startup VisionAnchor, which used an instrumented buoy positioned at the anchor to monitor movement and provide alerts, survived six years (2020-2026). It won a start-up competition at boot Düsseldorf in 2025, and online sources state that the company of seven employees received funding of $266,000 before going ‘out of business’.