Pioneering Hoverbike Firm Goes Belly Up

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Japan’s most prominent hoverbike company, A.L.I. Technologies, has filed for bankruptcy. Although the firm reports that it hopes to rebuild in the United States, there is much reason to believe that it is now down and out.

In terms of media promotion, the company’s main product, the XTurismo Limited Edition hoverbike, was an undoubted success, gaining wide attention both at home in Japan as well as abroad. Last February, under its US brand Aerwins Technologies, it became the first Japan-origin eVTOL firm to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York. This was achieved via a merger with the special purpose acquisition company Pono Capital, a Hawaii-based firm. It was anticipated that the value of the company would stabilize at about US$600 million.

Those projections turned out to be wildly over-optimistic. When investors took a look at the company, there was a near-consensus that the numbers didn’t add up. On the eve of the merger at the end of January, Pono’s stock was hovering at a value of around $10.40. After a brief spike, its value collapsed in a brutal fashion. By September, the same stock was worth about $0.12.

The fundamental problem is that the XTurismo hoverbike was being sold at a steep US$620,000 per unit, but it was illegal to use it in most places in most nations. Regulators were not willing to permit the hoverbike to fly over public roads, limiting its usefulness to anyone wealthy enough to consider buying it.

Given time and deep pockets, perhaps Aerwins might have eventually overcome these challenges, but since it was a startup firm, and its listing on the Nasdaq had gone so horribly wrong, the money ran out far ahead of any regulatory or commercial successes.

Nevertheless, the company leaders are not admitting full defeat. Although the original Japanese organization A.L.I. Technologies is being disbanded, a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on January 10 asserts that “A.L.I.’s voluntary bankruptcy proceedings are part of the company’s planned relocation of its operations from Tokyo to Los Angeles and continued development of a line of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-compliant manned vehicles for low-altitude flights that are being designed to be flown remotely independently or in multiple synchronous groupings.”

The filing added that “we are redesigning our single-seat optionally Manned Air Vehicle (MAV). We aim to align this vehicle with the stringent requirements of the FAA Powered Ultra-Light Air Vehicle Category, setting a new standard for safe low-altitude manned flight.”

Aerwins has picked up a partner in its second try, a Los Angeles-based firm called Helicopter Technology Company, which will assume a 30% stake.

The filing even offered a prospective timeline: schematic design and detailed specifications (2024); prototype parts design, fabrication, and systems finalization (2025); commencement of assembly, testing, and regulatory approval (2026); and beginning of sales (2027).

This new vehicle, they explain, will cost around US$200,000 and will be designed for “many intended uses, including sightseeing, sports, agriculture, surveillance, field delivery, and numerous military applications.”

Having failed so spectacularly as a business venture in their first foray, and with weak financing, it remains to be seen if this revisioning will ever get off the ground.

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