LAUNCHPAD: Anti-piracy invention rides the high seas of investment with £100k from Crowdcube.

Tom Hanks’ latest blockbuster Captain Phillips is hitting our cinemas this weekend – the tale of a mariner taken hostage by Somali pirates. It’s the kind of story we’ve become accustomed to hearing about but if Crowdcube’s latest startup success story has anything to do with it, tales of real-life piracy will be on the wane.
 
Marine & Auto Security Solutions (MASS) has raised £100,000 on Crowdcube to market its anti-piracy invention internationally. Guardian is a device which slots over a ship’s guard rails and makes it impossible for grappling hooks, ladders and all manner of piracy paraphernalia to get a grasp of the ship; thus thwarting the would-be raiders’ attempts to board.
 
‘It is far safer, cheaper and more effective than the razor wire, water jets and armed guards currently used by ship owners,’ says inventor Teresa Stevens.
 
‘We’ve been inundated with enquiries and even someone trying to rip off our idea.’
 
Solving a problem that costs the global shipping industry an estimated $6bn a year is a noble feat indeed. Hopefully with the money raised, it’ll be a case of ‘all hands on deck’ to take the product global.