Sydney Investor Briefing
The World's First Water Metro
"A show up and go electric hydrofoiling urban transit solution — launched in Sydney, designed for 50+ global cities."
Water Roads is an Australian urban transit technology company. We are building the world's first Water Metro — a zero-emission, electric hydrofoil urban transit service that operates as a platform.
Sydney is our launch city.
300 km of navigable waterways. 7% mode share.
Sydney Harbour is one of the world's great natural transport corridors. 300+ kilometres of navigable waterways run directly parallel to the city's most congested road corridors — yet only 7% of harbour commuters use the water.
The reason is simple: the existing ferry network is slow, infrequent, and diesel-powered. It was not designed for metro-level urban transit.
| The Gap | The Scale |
|---|---|
| Residents facing 45–90 min road journeys | 100,000+ (could be served in 18 min by water) |
| Annual congestion cost to Sydney | $6.9B (rising to $12.6B by 2030) |
| Current harbour mode share | 7% of total transport |
| Existing fleet | ~40 diesel vessels contributing to urban air pollution |
Source: BITRE; TfNSW; Water Roads White Paper WR-WP-003 (2026)
Water Metro.
Water Roads is a platform company — analogous to an Uber or AirBnB model applied to urban water transit.
The technology is proven. The Candela P-12 has been operational in Stockholm since 2022, carrying 50,000+ passengers at 98.2% service reliability and 85% lower energy consumption than diesel equivalents (KTH Royal Institute of Technology).
Rhodes to Barangaroo.
18 minutes. Every 6 minutes.
The Water Roads Sydney pilot connects Wentworth Point / Rhodes with Barangaroo (Nawi Cove) — the corridor identified in the NRMA's 2018 Blue Highways report as the highest-priority underserved waterway route in Sydney.
| Route Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Western Terminus | Wentworth Point / Rhodes |
| Eastern Terminus | Barangaroo (Nawi Cove) |
| Distance | 22 km |
| Travel Time | 18 minutes |
| By Road (current) | 45 minutes |
| Service Frequency | Every 6 minutes (target) |
| Daily Passengers (target) | 3,000+ |
| Vessels | 8 × Candela P-12 / Artemis EF-14 Transit |
| Charging Infrastructure | Deep Power™ e-Wharf (existing TfNSW wharves) |
| First Vessel Arrival | Q1 2027 (Vessev, New Zealand) |
| Public Capital Required | $0 |
Australia hosts COP31 in partnership with Pacific Island Nations. A working electric hydrofoil service on Sydney Harbour during COP31 would demonstrate Australian climate leadership to a global audience.
Australian-made. Grid-independent charging.
Deep Power™ is an Australian-designed floating, modular battery platform that converts existing wharves into electric-enabled e-Wharves — without requiring grid upgrades.
Deep Power is a core enabling technology for the Water Roads network. It removes the single largest infrastructure barrier to electric water transit deployment at scale.
One contract. Full stack.
Water Roads manages the full operational stack under a single contract:
The company holds exclusive regional supply agreements with Candela (Sweden) and Artemis Technologies (UK) for next-generation electric hydrofoil vessels.
| Allocation | Amount | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet — 20% of vessel procurement | $10M | Co-investment in 8-vessel Sydney pilot fleet |
| Deep Power e-Wharves | $2M | Shore-based charging infrastructure at pilot wharves |
| Operations Setup | $3M | Crew, licensing, ticketing, and launch operations |
| Total | $15M |
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Target platform valuation | AUD $1.1B–$1.7B |
| Global deployment target | 50+ cities by 2030 |
| Revenue model | Service fee per passenger + licensed IP |
| Asset backing | Redeployable vessel fleet |
Sydney is the launch market.
50+ cities by 2030.
The Water Roads platform — Blue Pathways™ route scoring, Deep Power™ charging infrastructure, WREI carbon certification, and digital operations — is designed for deployment across 50+ global waterway cities by 2030.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total jobs created | 23,147 |
| Total economic activity | $112.5B |
| Annual congestion savings (full network) | $92.5M |
| CO₂ abated per vessel (annual) | 3,400 tonnes |
Interested in investing?
Water Roads is actively engaging with early-stage investors. The Information Memorandum (IM) and term sheet are available on request under a mutual NDA.