Amex Ventures’ Investment Will Support Boom’s Development of Sustainable Supersonic Airliner

Boom Supersonic, the aerospace company building the world’s fastest and most sustainable commercial airliner, today announced a strategic investment from American Express Ventures. The funds will support the continued development of Boom’s flagship product, the supersonic airliner Overture.

Overture is Boom’s 65- to 88-seat supersonic airliner, capable of running on 100% sustainable aviation fuel. The supersonic aircraft is slated to roll out in 2025 and begin commercial flights by 2029. Built on the core principles of speed, safety and sustainability, Overture will fly twice as fast as conventional jets over more than 500 transoceanic routes worldwide. Boom currently has $6 billion in pre-orders of Overture aircraft.

“We’re proud that Amex Ventures shares our commitment to making the world more accessible by bringing sustainable supersonic travel to passengers everywhere,” said Blake Scholl, Boom founder and CEO. “2021 is a pivotal year for Boom. As we prepare to fly our supersonic demonstrator, XB-1, we are also accelerating Overture development.” Read More >>

Archer Aviation, the electric aircraft startup that recently announced a deal to go public via a merger with a blank-check company, plans to launch a network of its urban air taxis in Los Angeles by 2024.

The announcement comes two months after the formation of the Urban Air Mobility Partnership, a one-year initiative between Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Urban Movement Labs to develop a plan for how to integrate urban aircraft into existing transportation networks and land use policies. Urban Movement Labs, launched in November 2019, is a public-private partnership involving local government and companies to develop, test and deploy transportation technologies. Urban Movement Labs and the city of Los Angeles are working on the design and access of “vertiports,” where people can go to fly on an “urban air mobility” aircraft. Urban air mobility, or UAM, is industry-speak for a highly automated aircraft that can operate and transport passengers or cargo at lower altitudes within urban and suburban areas. Read More >>

After nearly a decade in operation, QuantumScape, a San Jose-based startup backed by Volkswagen and Bill Gates, is finally breaking its silence. In a virtual “battery day” event for investors, the recently public company announced that its “solid state” batteries for electric vehicles will charge faster, hold more power, and last longer than traditional EV batteries.

Solid-state batteries have eluded researchers for decades. Most EV companies use “wet” lithium-ion batteries, which use liquid electrolytes to move energy around. But these batteries can be slow to charge, can freeze up in subzero temperatures, and contain flammable material that can be hazardous in the event of a crash.

QuantumScape claims to have developed a production-ready solid-state battery with cells that are made of solid and “dry” conductive material. And while most startups pursuing solid-state batteries remain mired in the lab, QuantumScape says it will be ready to go into production in 2024. Read More>>

An award-winning app that can help patients with dementia will launch later this month in app stores. But unlike most apps — made by professional software developers in a male-dominated tech industry — this one was created by three teenage girls. The Nigerian-Irish teens are the champions of Technovation Girls, an international competition that challenges young women to develop an app that can solve a problem in their community. The annual competition is hosted by Technovation, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls to become leaders in tech. The girls were guided by project mentor Evelyn Nomayo, an Afro-Irish developer and the founder of Phase Innovate, an organization that trains and mentors underrepresented minorities and women in tech. Nomayo told them about her mother, who experienced dementia, and that inspired the teens, who live in Drogheda, Ireland, to create an app that could help with the disorder. The 12-week challenge resulted in Memory Haven, which beat out more than 1,500 submissions from 62 countries. Memory Haven can be used by both patients and caregivers. Its six features target three problems faced by those with dementia: memory loss and difficulty with recognition and speech. A reminder feature, for example, alerts both the patient and caregiver that it’s time for medication, while photo albums allow users to flip through tagged photos identifying who is in the image. Read More >>

The rules of the new social network Telepath are simple: Be kind. Don’t be mean. No harassment, and no fake news. The existential question for Telepath will be whether that’s easier said than done. “It’s becoming harder and harder for people to have great conversations on existing platforms,” said Telepath’s co-founder and chairman, Marc Bodnick. “People are mean to each other, and that meanness is kind of rewarded with distribution. There’s tons of disinformation. Women are treated very badly. And so our view was that there’s an opportunity to create a new social network really focused on conversation and connecting people who share the same interest.” Telepath acknowledges that public figures will be treated and handled differently, and it won’t be immune to criticism. “There is somewhat of a difficult line here where we want to encourage kindness and empathy, particularly between people in conversations on Telepath, but also it’s not our intention to silence criticism,” Henry said. “I think in this world that we live in now, it’s not everyone, but I think a lot of people in the business, financial investor world believe in the possibility of quality and the potential of a great social product,” Bodnick said. “And so I don’t think you have to rush out the door to explode your scale or start making money in some sort of cheesy way.” Read More >>

This week, startups relevant to the travel sector announced more than $24 million in funding. We define a startup as a company formed to test and build a repeatable and scalable business model. Few companies meet that definition. The rare ones that do often attract venture capital. Their funding rounds come in waves. Seed capital is money used to start a business, often led by angel investors and friends or family. Series A financing is typically drawn from venture capitalists. The round aims to help a startup’s founders make sure that their product is something that customers truly want to buy. Series B financing is mainly about venture capitalist firms helping a company grow faster. These fundraising rounds can assist in recruiting skilled workers and developing cost-effective marketing. Series C financing is ordinarily about helping a company expand, such as through acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms often participate. Series D, E and beyond These mainly mature businesses and the funding round may help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of private investors might participate.  Read More >>

Eskalera, a technology startup led by Goldman Sachs former human resources head Dane Holmes, has launched an index to measure corporate diversity and inclusiveness, the firm said on Thursday.  Eskalera’s software collects information on employee sentiment and company culture and combines it with HR data to generate a score for inclusivity that can be measured against competitors.  The goal is to give companies actionable information on changes needed to increase diversity.  Eskalera is among a group of startups developing software to help corporations hire and retain more diverse staff.  Many U.S. companies have pledged funds and issued statements in support of racial diversity amid protests that erupted since George Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.  The gestures by corporate America have drawn some criticism from diversity experts, who say companies should also look at improving racial equity within their ranks.  Fewer than 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are black, according to a 2019 study by the Center for Talent Innovation. Around 13% of Americans identify as black or African American, according to federal data.  Read More >>

EagleHawk, a Tech Garden member and past GENIUS NY finalist, has engineered a safe, effective, and efficient process for disinfecting large areas against COVID-19, both outdoors and indoors. EagleHawk is using disinfectant chemicals approved by the EPA and New York DEC for effectiveness against the SARS-CoV-2 virus with a process that places the highest priority on safety of personnel and protection of facility equipment. The current and unprecedented global crisis caused by COVID-19 is changing the way people view the importance of facility cleanliness and the new normal is going to require higher levels of vigilance on cleanliness and sanitation. EagleHawk is currently a Tech Garden member and past GENIUS NY accelerator finalist. The company won a $500,000 award last year to continue developing its software and intelligent algorithm solutions for facility managers to better manage the maintenance and repair of their roofs, district heating systems, solar panel installations, building envelopes and facades, and other large-scale facility assets. Unfortunately, we have seen a number of companies recently begin to market such drone-enabled disinfection services using these agriculture drones, promising results that they won’t be able to deliver. EagleHawk has spent months researching, designing, and testing our solutions to ensure we’re offering a safe and effective service for our clients and are working closely with regulatory agencies such as the FAA, EPA and New York DEC to ensure all safety standards and protocols are followed.  Read More >>

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a sledgehammer to the economy and the space industry is no exception.  Before the pandemic, the global space industry was really coming into its stride, valued at around $360 billion.  For the last few years, space startups with bold ideas could successfully close round after round of funding.  Now, companies may have a hard time getting infusions from outside investors.  That means companies will likely rely on government contracts, either from NASA or the Department of Defense, now more than ever as a guaranteed source of funding.  A few high-profile space companies succumbed at the start of the pandemic.  Analysts say these early losses are likely the result of problems that companies had before the pandemic, and the economic downturn just amplified those issues.  Whether they’re keeping busy or just trying to keep the lights on, companies across the industry are all stuck in the same pandemic-induced holding pattern. Like many industries, it’s still too early to say what will happen in the future. But for smaller companies with loftier ambitions, the financial picture has already shifted. To make it through, they’ll have to tighten their belts and adjust their plans or scramble for a government-funded lifeline that keeps their unique space goals alive.  Read More >>