Akihabara News (Tokyo) — 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.
In email communications and an exclusive interview with Akihabara News, SkyScape Founder and President Asa Quesenberry reveals that “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.”
The name “Skyscape” was selected to signal that the firm’s ambitions go far beyond the drone industry alone. Rather, the aim is no less than to “shape the skies” as the world enters the new era of advanced air mobility.
Quesenberry says that he is unfazed by the fact that many other firms, domestic and international, have been signaling 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.
While Quesenberry is not interested in giving away the secret sauce, he does note that SkyScape’s approach to vertiport development will be characterized by “true modularity” as well as affordable prices and the ability to integrate within both existing infrastructure or at greenfield sites.
He also specifies that SkyScape’s business model will not encompass the ownership of vertiports.
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.”
Although eVTOL infrastructure is now its lead focus, SkyScape will retain the legacy drone service and consulting clients which it has built up over the past five years.
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