Navigating New Waters: Docusign Powers Ankor's Innovative Yacht Charter Contracts

In an industry synonymous with luxury but entangled in complexities, Ankor Software has pioneered a transformative approach to yacht charters. 

Founded by Elliot Cousins and Mike Sager, the two entrepreneurs set out to provide a secure and user-friendly contract platform that empowers charter brokers to facilitate smooth transactions and reduce the costs of doing business. 

We sat down with Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Elliot Cousins to learn all about how Ankor successfully addressed these pain points through a truly innovative partnership that has revolutionised the yachting industry—and ultimately, set a new standard for contract management in yacht charting.

Charting new solutions in contracting

The yacht chartering industry, while extravagant, is a fragmented and complex landscape. Each charter comes with its own unique set of challenges, from navigating international regulations to handling high-value transactions. 

These types of contracts aren't static like those for hotels or Airbnb stays either. The process involves accommodating additional variables like advanced provisioning allowances, relocation costs, special conditions and cross-border logistics—all of which can add 30-40% more to the base costs of a charter and make the whole process stressful for all parties involved.

Recognising these pain points, Ankor set out to streamline and elevate the charter management experience. “We saw an opportunity to better connect supply and demand in what was a fragmented market,” said Elliot.

By integrating Docusign eSignature, Ankor launched a new, flexible, and robust contract management solution tailored to yacht charters—an industry-first that bridged a previously disconnected market and unlocked a new revenue stream for the business.

Working directly with the Docusign Solutions Team, Elliot and Mike were able to build a fit-for-purpose solution, providing the necessary flexibility and commercial capabilities to adapt rapidly to market needs. 

“The product is one thing—and it’s a great fit for us. But the ability to get hands on with the Docusign Solutions Team ultimately got us to a position where we could achieve something bespoke to our requirements—which was pretty surprising for us given we’re a small startup,” Elliot said.

The audit trail feature, contact detail protection, and role-specific workflows were key differentiators that no other provider could match. 

Just three months after launching the product, Ankor facilitated nearly 300 contracts for charters—completely digitally, and the equivalent of around 2,400 pages—and was met with a wave of positive customer feedback. The rapid adoption solidified Ankor’s Digital Contract Management platform as a game changer for the industry.

Contracts anchored in confidentiality

Where Ankor’s solution really stands out is with its ability to uphold client confidentiality during each transaction, particularly when each transaction deals with large volumes of money and personal information. 

“To make sure it’s done safely and that the parties are protected, you’ve got to have a really robust and rigorous contract. So, we invested a lot of time and money in building what we think is the best contract in the market,” said Elliot.

What Ankor envisioned for the product hit all key principles—being globally usable, user friendly, robust and secure, and protecting parties’ information in the right way. 

But the task of balancing a well-designed workflow while also solving for the confidentiality on both ends of the transaction made choosing the right partner a critical part of the journey.

Ankor needed a way to obfuscate specific details of each party during a transaction, something that would take legacy contracting tools time and effort, and a whole lot of back and forth. But with Docusign, this was made easy. 

“The signing process needs to be secure and parties see only necessary information —and Docusign solved that for us,” Elliot explained.

“Other providers we were evaluating when looking at this problem weren’t able to achieve what we needed them to, so that’s where Docusign stood out for us.”

What’s more, is that Ankor facilitates all of this without seeing the data in each contract. Only the parties involved are privy to what’s in it.

Unlocking value for brokers

The partnership not only saved time and improved security but also avoided the hefty costs associated with legacy contract norms.

In some cases, where brokers do not have access to an industry contract, they have to pay up to a third of their commission to draft the contract, which is a substantial cut.

“For our clients, our solution costs as little as $5 per contract allows them to easily prepare contracts off the shelf, significantly saving costs and time,” Elliot said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this product without Docusign. It’s a huge enabler—it helps us get a really innovative product into the market.”

Through Ankor’s contract solution, one broker was able to retain $30,000 in commission for charters booked in a single season.

A partnership making waves

Ankor envisions a future deeply intertwined with Docusign's capabilities. The ongoing positive customer feedback is driving continuous improvements and expansions and there are already plans to refine the product further with customer feedback, with a focus on broadening the scope of applications.

“We pride ourselves on being the technology leader moving the yachting industry forward. We want to grow, enable and unlock this industry with great digital products—and having great partners like Docusign that enable us to focus on our sweet spot is key to this,” Elliot said.

Ankor’s success as a business, and its ability to transform challenges into opportunities, is a testament to Docusign’s commitment to providing SMBs the tools they need to grow and scale—and in Ankor’s case, introduce entirely new and disruptive products to their respective industries.

Now, Ankor is at the cutting edge of its industry, demonstrating how even high-growth startups can leverage enterprise-level solutions to drive significant and meaningful impact.