Sustainable next-generation aircraft developer REGENT has taken another major step toward the manufacturing and marketing of its all-electric seagliders for advanced air mobility (AAM) services by securing $60 million in Series A Round funding round.
Rhode Island-based REGENT announced it had closed that financing campaign after participating investors pledged $60 million to its seaglider development project. That brings the startup’s total funding to $90 million, which will be used to fulfill its plans to produce a full-scale prototype of the battery-powered AAM aircraft next year.
Most companies developing electric-powered planes for AAM activities have focused on air taxis and related inner-urban uses. REGENT, by contrast, is specializing in seagliders designed to transport passengers along coastal routes, over border-defining waterways like the English Channel, or between islands in archipelagoes.
After producing and flying a ¼-scale version of its Viceroy seaglider last May, the company now plans on trialing a full-form prototype and staging crewed flight in 2024, ahead of first aircraft deliveries and service launches by mid-decade.
REGENT’s innovation in AAM transport combines elements from hydro-foiling watercraft with drone and UAV technologies to create seagliders that arrive and leave from docks.
Once they attain the required velocity, the vehicles use what’s known as an in-ground-wing effect in which a foil lifts the plane 10 to 25 feet above the water’s surface, assuring smooth flight on a pillow of air. The startup says its initial 12-passenger Viceroy craft will reach cruise speeds of up to 180 mph while traveling up to 180 miles on a single charge.
In addition to previously announced financing pledged by Japan Airlines Innovation Fund, Lockheed Martin, Yamato Holdings, 8090 Industries, and Founders Fund, REGENT’s Series A Round also attracted Point72 Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Mark Cuban, and the UAE’s Strategic Development Fund.
“REGENT is a once-in-a-generation company with the power to truly transform an entire sector,” said Delian Asparouhov, partner at Founders Fund. “Their faster, cheaper, and cleaner solution for regional mobility is the first radical advance in transportation in decades. REGENT is a textbook example of the type of ambitious technologies we need to grow the US industrial base and today we’re doubling down on our commitment to their vision.”
REGENT CEO Billy Thalheimer said the additional backing will allow the company to expand and diversify the ways AAM provides services to passengers and keep its plans for producing and delivering its seagliders on schedule.
“There are extraordinarily few companies today with battery powered vehicles that can fly human crew, and REGENT is about to join those ranks,” said Thalheimer. “Seagliders will be the first electric flying machine to be economically viable, and I’m willing to bet, the first one that the majority of the world will take a ride in.”
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