Akihabara News (Tokyo) is reporting that Osaka-based drone services provider DroNext is transforming into SkyScape, a new player in Japan’s eVTOL industry. “It aims to enter the advanced air mobility vertiport market with financial support from Drone Fund and other investors” reports the news channel.
Akihabara News reports in the feature that SkyScape Founder and President Asa Quesenberry reveals “while drones, aquatic drones, and our operator teams are a crucial part of our business, our real focus within the sector is on facility and infrastructure development for the advanced air mobility markets here in Japan and abroad.”
He adds, “our team has partnered with some major corporate groups here in Japan to begin testing our first generation vertiport integration platform.” In fact, the name of the company’s lead product will be “VIP.”
Quesenberry says that he is unfazed by the fact that many other firms, domestic and international, have been signalling interest in building out Japan’s vertiport infrastructure.
“The business model we’ve come up with–the way we’re looking at implementing our vertiport development–it doesn’t put us in competition with many people. In fact, it allows us to actually collaborate with a lot of other companies,” he states and adds that SkyScape’s business model will not encompass the ownership of vertiports.
Akihabara concludes by reporting that “SkyScape will soon be announcing that it has closed its pre-seed investment round with Drone Fund taking the lead, but with several angel investors also contributing. While the precise level of funding isn’t being revealed, Quesenberry characterizes the amount as “enough for us to really get moving.”
For more information
https://akihabaranews.com/skyscape-aims-to-shape-evtol-vertiports/?amp=1
(Image: DroNext / SkyScape)