内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2025/pure-watercraft-founder-resurfaces-with-seattle-startup-focused-on-autonomous-craft-for-the-military/

内容总结：

在电动船外机公司Pure Watercraft运营13年后破产并变卖资产一年多后，其创始人安迪·雷贝勒并未就此沉寂，而是携核心团队创立国防科技公司Thallios，聚焦自主水面舰艇领域。

这家从西雅图起家（注册于得州）的新公司，收购了Pure Watercraft全部军用知识产权及国防部创新单位的部分未完成合同。雷贝勒表示，公司将研制类似喷气滑雪板尺寸的自主水面载具，可执行物流运输或单程任务——后者被业内解读为可能具备攻击能力。

"这类似于空中无人机作战模式，"雷贝勒以乌克兰战场为例指出，"低成本可消耗无人机正在颠覆现代战争格局"。这一战略转向与Pure Watercraft当年致力环保电动船外机的初衷截然不同。

曾获通用汽车注资3700万美元的Pure Watercraft，在2024年7月因财务困境进入破产管理程序。雷贝勒反思称："虽然通用汽车的撤资是直接诱因，但主要问题在于公司自身执行力不足。"

新公司的独特优势在于无需融资压力。"现有军事合同足以支撑运营，"雷贝勒强调，这使他能将70%原本用于融资的精力投入到技术研发中。在西雅图军工创新生态圈内，Thallios将避开"镀金式"高技术路线，转而追求成本可控的大规模量产能力。

"我们不可能用兰博基尼去对抗大众甲壳虫，"这位二次创业者用比喻阐明了公司的竞争策略。

中文翻译：

安迪·雷贝尔并未在其耕耘13年的电动推进公司"纯水科技"破产后悄然退出西雅图海事创业圈，而是启动了新一轮创新计划。在这家电动船外机企业关停并变卖资产一年后，他已成为新公司Thallios的创始人兼首席执行官，肩负着全新使命。

"这家公司脱胎于纯水科技的积淀。"雷贝尔向GeekWire坦言。纯水科技的核心知识产权是电动船外机，曾用于驱动面向休闲船主的创新浮筒船。但该公司还拥有涵盖其他海事领域的资产，其中军用相关技术构成了Thallios的基石——此刻雷贝尔正带领纯水科技前员工组成的精干团队专注开发自主航行器。

"我们收购了全部军用定向知识产权。"雷贝尔透露，纯水科技曾完成军用合同，研制了用于搜救的电动水上摩托。此次收购还包含一项已部分执行的国防创新单元合同，将由Thallios继续履行。这家公司注册于得州，在西雅图秘密地点运营，正研制小型自主水面载具——可能是船只或个人水上摩托规格。雷贝尔表示可能采用电力推进，主要应用于物流运输或单程任务，暗示其或具备爆破功能。

"这类似于空中无人机战场的逻辑。"他解释道，"观察乌克兰战场，近两三年颠覆战争模式的正是小型可消耗无人机。"这一方向与纯水科技当年用环保电动船外机颠覆燃油休闲船舶业的初衷已然不同。

成立于2011年的纯水科技曾融资3700万美元，2021年11月获得通用汽车25%股权投资，2023年斩获GeekWire年度可持续创新奖。但即便获得通用投资并推出面向大众的浮筒船，这家初创企业仍于2024年7月陷入财务危机被接管。

雷贝尔持续反思败因：究竟何处出错？通用为何撤资？自身应承担多少责任？"我尚未深入剖析纯水科技始末，但失败虽由通用行动直接引发，主要责任仍在于我们的执行失误。若能重来，太多事项我会另辟蹊径。"

如今他以新策略再战创业赛场，最令他振奋的是无需募资："现有军务合同足以支撑运营。"这位CEO指出，多数初创企业掌门人将七成精力耗费在融资上，而他更愿专注公司实务。"包括我在内，多数CEO诸事皆通却无一精绝。当不必奔波叩响投资人之门，亲力亲为可减少多个岗位的招聘需求。"

Thallios需在防务科技领域开辟疆土，并明确相较于深耕该领域多年的竞争者所能创造的独特价值。西雅图地区已有诸多创新军企：从华盛顿大学分离的Overland AI研发自动驾驶车辆，柯克兰的Echodyne专精先进雷达技术，Exia Labs则开发提升兵棋推演效能的人工智能软件。今年初启动的伦顿国防技术加速器项目，也致力于发掘支持满足国防部需求的科创企业。

雷贝尔认为过多企业追求过高技术，他无意制造"镀金"防务资产来对抗盟敌的量产低成本产品。成本控制与快速量产能力将成为Thallios成功的关键。"我们不能用兰博基尼去对抗大众甲壳虫，"他警醒道，"新兴防务科技公司很容易滑入这个误区。"

英文来源：

Andy Rebele didn’t just drift away from Seattle’s maritime startup scene after the demise of Pure Watercraft, the electric propulsion company he spent 13 years building. He put in motion a plan to innovate again.
A little over a year after Pure shut down and sold off its assets, Rebele is the founder and CEO of Thallios, a new company with a new mission.
“This is a company that’s born out of the legacy of Pure Watercraft,” Rebele told GeekWire.
Pure’s main product and intellectual property was its electric outboard motor, used to power, among other things, an innovative pontoon boat directed at leisure boaters.
But the company also had assets across other marine interests, including military-related technology — which is the backbone of Thallios, where Rebele and a small team of former Pure employees are focused on autonomous marine craft.
“We acquired all of the military oriented IP,” Rebele said, adding that Pure previously completed a military contract where it built an electric personal watercraft designed for search and rescue. The acquisition comes with a contract that Pure partially executed and that Thallios will take on with the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit.
Thallios, which is based at an undisclosed Seattle location but incorporated in Texas, will be building a small, autonomous surface craft that could be a boat or a personal-sized craft like a Jet Ski. Rebele said electric propulsion could be employed, and the craft’s main applications could be either logistical, like taking supplies from point A to B, or one-way missions, like sending a boat “that doesn’t come home,” he said, implying explosive capabilities.
“The way to think about this is analogous to the airborne drone theater,” Rebele said. “If you look at Ukraine, what has revolutionized war fighting in the last two or three years has been that small attritable drones have dominated.”
The mission is a departure from Pure’s onetime aim to disrupt the gas-powered recreational boating industry with a more environmentally friendly electric outboard motor.
Founded in 2011, Pure Watercraft raised $37 million and attracted backing from General Motors, which acquired a 25% stake in the company in November 2021. The startup won Sustainable Innovation of the Year at the 2023 GeekWire Awards.
But even with GM’s investment and the launch of a Pure Pontoon boat to appeal to a wide swath of American leisure boaters, the startup ran into financial troubles and was placed into receivership in July 2024.
Rebele has taken his time to reflect on what went wrong, why GM pulled out, and how much blame he should take.
“I really haven’t gone into depth on what happened with Pure, but I will say that its failure, while precipitated in the moment by an action by GM, a lot of responsibility for that was failures of execution by Pure,” he said. “And if we were to do it again, there are many things I would do differently.”
Rebele is excited to come at a new startup with a different tack. Foremost is his enthusiasm around not having to do any fundraising.
“We have no need to raise money, because the current military contract funds the company,” he said, adding that most startup CEOs he talks to spend 70% of their time courting investors. It’s time he’d rather spend focused on execution at Thallios.
“Most CEOs, including myself, are decent at lots of things. They’re not the best at anything,” Rebele said. “When you’re not busy knocking on investor doors, the hands-on work you do can relieve the need to hire multiple different positions.”
Thallios will need to stake out its territory in defense tech and learn what value it can bring compared to others who have been in the sector for a while.
In the Seattle area, a number of startups are innovating on behalf of the military: Overland AI spun out of the University of Washington to make self-driving vehicles; Kirkland, Wash.-based Echodyne makes advanced radar technology; and Exia Labs builds AI software to improve wargaming efforts.
A new Renton, Wash.-based accelerator program, called the Defense Technology Accelerator, also launched earlier this year with the goal of identifying and supporting startups and technologies that address Defense Department needs.
In Rebele’s opinion, too many companies have gone too high tech and he’s not interested in making “gold-plated” defense assets to go up against high-volume, lower-cost products from American and Allied adversaries. Cost and rapid production scalability will be key to Thallios’ success.
“We can’t have our Lamborghinis fighting their VW Beetles,” he said. “I think it’s tempting for new defense tech companies to slip down that slope.”
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