Bridging the gap between build and payment

How a £150,000 UKEF-guaranteed trade loan is helping Exeter self-driving boat maker HydroSurv deliver export orders to Norway and Italy.

The company

HydroSurv designs and builds uncrewed surface vessels (USVs): self-driving boats used for marine surveying and environmental monitoring. Its electric and battery-hybrid vessels are built for low to zero emission operation, offering a cleaner alternative to conventional crewed workboats.

Founded in Exeter in 2019 and led by founder and CEO David Hull, the company won its first export order in 2021. Since then it has deployed more than 30 vessels worldwide, and roughly 95% of its business now comes from international markets. The data its vessels collect supports offshore wind development, flood-risk management and the protection of coastal infrastructure.

The challenge

Building a survey vessel takes months, and most of the cost falls before the customer pays. For a business growing as quickly as HydroSurv, with export orders in Norway and Italy on the books, that gap between production costs and final payment is the constraint. The larger the order, the wider the gap.

HydroSurv wanted to take on bigger international contracts and keep investing in its team, without letting working capital decide which orders it could accept.

The Nighthawk solution

Nighthawk Export Finance provided a £150,000 trade loan, guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government's export credit agency. The facility gives HydroSurv the working capital to fund production of the Norwegian and Italian orders and bridge the time until customers pay.

The UKEF guarantee is what allows a specialist non-bank lender to support a smaller exporter on terms that fit the way it trades. UKEF has said that working with a non-bank lender like Nighthawk Export Finance gives it more flexibility to back innovative businesses through export opportunities.

HydroSurv was already known to Nighthawk, having previously used our innovation finance to bridge grant funding. That track record meant we understood how the business generates and receives cash before the export facility was put in place.

Nighthawk Export Finance at a glance

• Facilities from £150,000 to £500,000, with terms of 12 to 18 months
• For UK businesses exporting UK goods or services overseas
• Does not need to be tied to a specific contract
• Up to six months interest-only, then monthly capital and interest repayments
• Backed by a UK Export Finance guarantee

The outcome

The facility has allowed HydroSurv to fulfil its export orders in Norway and Italy and take on larger international contracts. It is also supporting growth at home: the company plans to grow its Exeter team from 12 to 19 skilled employees, adding seven new roles.

Looking ahead, HydroSurv expects to triple its revenue within three years as global demand for uncrewed vessels grows.

At a glance