London-based Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Skyports, which builds landing and take-off sites for flying taxis, has now completed the final close of its Series B capital raise amounting to $3.13 million. The funding came from ST Engineering’s venture capital arm, ST Engineering Ventures.
The addition of the Singapore heavyweight to Skyports’ roster of investors brings the total funding to $26.13 million. The first Series B round in March raised $23 million. The other Series B investors included Japanese conglomerate Kanematsu Corporation; global industrial property group Goodman Group; Italian airport platform 2i Aeroporti, backed by Ardian’s Infrastructure Fund and F2i Italian Infrastructure fund; and US-based Venture Capital firm GreenPoint.
Duncan Walker, CEO of Skyports, said: “The Asian market is a critical area of growth for AAM, and one we are committed to cultivating. Investment from Kanematsu Corporation, and now ST Engineering, demonstrates that our confidence in and focus on this market is well-founded and supported by industry leaders from across the region. ST Engineering has been a strong partner of ours for some time now, and we are honoured to develop that relationship further with the company joining Skyports as an investor. We look forward to bringing our expertise together to expand our capabilities.”
The heavyweight collab!
The collaboration brings together Skyports’ flight operations capabilities and ST Engineering’s drone system solution, DroNet, to implement autonomous Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights across the city-state’s network of reservoirs. Extending on the partnership, Skyports, ST Engineering and Sumitomo Corporation formed a consortium in early 2022 to provide unmanned aircraft services for ship-to-shore parcel delivery in Singapore.
Soo Soon Teong, VP & Head of Unmanned Air Systems at ST Engineering, said: “Our investment in Skyports stems from our confidence in the future of Advanced Air Mobility, and the expertise that Skyports has and continues to grow in building towards that future. With even stronger ties now between ST Engineering and Skyports, we will accelerate efforts in marrying our complementary strengths in Advanced Air Mobility and advanced the DroNet solution globally.”
Looking ahead, Skyports will continue strengthening its global ties with industry leading ecosystem partners, public and private sector stakeholders, and regulators to develop targeted solutions that will concurrently mature both critical AAM infrastructure and drone services operations to deliver heightened mobility, productivity and safety across markets.
Founded by Duncan Walker and Simon Morrish in 2018, Skyports is an urban air mobility infrastructure provider and drone delivery operator for aviation and managing end-to-end drone deliveries. The company secures, designs, builds, owns and operates passenger and cargo vertiports. Skyports provides drone delivery through its logistics arm, Delivery by Skyports.
In 2021, the drone operator helped the NHS carry COVID test samples and other medical materials between medical facilities in Scotland in a first-of-its-kind move.
Also, late last year, Skyports began developing Europe’s first test vertiport in Paris in an attempt to launch commercial Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) services in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Recently, UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced a major investment into greener aerospace, confirming that solar-powered aircraft, ultra-efficient wings and medical treatment-carrying drones are some of the technologies set to receive a share of £273m funding under green aviation projects.
