Inspiration
Berry-Mappemonde is a French non-profit preparing a sailing expedition (planned departure: April 15, 2027) that links the landlocked Berry region to France's overseas territories, with partner schools. Blue Intelligence (https://www.blueintelligence.online) is our existing ocean map of marine conservation projects, marinas and ports of entry; NAVIGUIDE (https://simulator.naviguide.fr) simulates and follows the boat's route. Expeditions must raise money before they sail, but supporters should not pay if the boat never leaves. Existing crowdfunding platforms charge backers as soon as a goal is reached, not when the expedition actually happens.
What it does
BI Escales is a niche, all-or-nothing crowdfunding layer for sailing expeditions, built on PayPal: you only pay if we sail.
- Budgeter – Blue Intelligence prices the itinerary, port call by port call. Each port call's cost becomes the goal of its own campaign.
- All-or-nothing campaigns per port call – each pledge (sponsor a nautical mile, membership, back a marine project, onboard experiences) is tied to a milestone. Pledges up to 29 days before the milestone use PayPal Orders v2 with intent AUTHORIZE; longer horizons use a vaulted PayPal payment method (Vault v3) charged only when the milestone is met.
- AI Captain (PayPal Agent Toolkit) – helps a supporter compose a pledge and, once a port call is validated from evidence, proposes capture or release. It never moves money on its own: a human treasurer approves every capture; release voids the authorization so nothing is charged.
- Sponsor invoices with PayPal Invoicing; memberships with PayPal Subscriptions.
Amounts are in EUR by default (French association), with an indicative USD display for judges. No tax receipts are issued, and PayPal pre-approval will be obtained before any real donation or crowdfunding collection in production. The demo runs in the PayPal sandbox only.
Status – what runs today vs. in development
Working today (local prototype + PayPal sandbox):
- PayPal sandbox integration: OAuth, creation of AUTHORIZE and CAPTURE orders returning a PayPal approval link, webhook registered on our sandbox app.
- Vault v3 (setup token) and Invoicing calls verified successfully on our sandbox app on Oct 18, 2026.
- All-or-nothing pledge state machine and milestone module (propose capture/release, human approval required), FastAPI API, minimal React panel; 10 automated tests passing.
In development (not yet working): the AI Captain and AI-written milestone reports (a safeguard that strips any number the model was not given already exists, but no model is wired yet); the budgeter link to Blue Intelligence's itinerary; PayPal JS SDK buyer approval; webhook handling, ledger and funding gauges; Subscriptions and Invoicing flows in the app; integration into Blue Intelligence; hosted demo and public repository.
Stretch goal: open the platform to any expedition leader, with a PayPal multiparty ("Platform") setup to split funds between the expedition and its providers (marina, mechanic, chef, onboard care).
How we built it
Python 3 / FastAPI backend module (escales: config, PayPal REST client, pledge state machine, milestone module, router), React 18 component, pytest, httpx against the PayPal sandbox REST APIs. Credentials come from environment variables; nothing secret is stored in code.
Challenges we ran into
PayPal authorizations are valid for 29 days while an expedition is planned months ahead, hence the two-mechanism design (AUTHORIZE vs. Vault). Buyer approval cannot be automated, so end-to-end capture needs the JS SDK flow. Keeping the AI in a "propose, never execute" role for payments.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
A tested state machine where no money moves without a met milestone and a human approval, on a live sandbox app with orders, webhook, Vault and Invoicing enabled.
What we learned
Authorization windows, idempotency (PayPal-Request-Id), and why an AI agent should propose, never execute, payments.
What's next
Wire the AI Captain, the budgeter and buyer approval, handle webhooks, integrate into Blue Intelligence, publish the repository and a hosted sandbox demo before the deadline.
Prior work
Blue Intelligence, the NAVIGUIDE simulator and the Berry-Mappemonde website existed before Oct 1, 2026 and contained no PayPal code. The whole BI Escales module and the PayPal sandbox app were built during the submission period (from Oct 18, 2026).