Announcement on Nippon Kayaku’s investment to SkyDrive which develops “Flying car” and “Distribution drone”
©️SkyDrive
We would like to announce that Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. (HQ: Tokyo, President: Mr. Atsuhiro Wakumoto, hereinafter referred to as “Nippon Kayaku”) has invested in SkyDrive Inc. (HQ: Aichi, Japan, CEO: Mr. Tomohiro Fukuzawa, hereinafter referred to as “SkyDrive”), which develops “Flying Car” ※ and “Distribution Drone” , through purchasing the allocation of new stock to a third party in series C round.
1. The Background and purpose of Investment
Nippon Kayaku develops and sells parachuting safety device for drone from December, 2021 by applying the pyrotechnic technology cultivated in automotive safety parts such as inflator for airbag and gas generator for seatbelt pretensioner.
After drone-era, Nippon Kayaku will start developing safety devices necessary for “Flying Car” which is expected to do well in moving to and from remote island and mountainous areas and in emergency transportation in the event of a disaster.
SkyDrive is aiming at realizing an air taxi service in Osaka bay area at the time of Osaka Kansai Expo in 2025.
By sharing the concept and considering the design of safety device necessary for new mobility together with SkyDrive, Nippon Kayaku hopes that it can enhance the safety of mobilty and broaden the utilization of flying car. To strengthen its base, we invested in and made a work partnership with SkyDrive through purchasing the allocation of new stock to a third party in series C round.
2. SkyDrive’s Profile
(1) Company Name： SkyDrive Inc.
(2) U R L：https://skydrive2020.com/
(3) Location of Headquarter：2-1-1 Koromo-Cho, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture
(4) Name and position of the representative： Chief Executive Officer (ＣＥＯ） Tomohiro Fukuzawa
(5) Date of Establishment: July, 2018
(6) Capital：100 million yen (June, 2022)
(7) Content of Business： Skydrive states that ”Taking the lead in once-in-a-century mobility revolution” as their mission and to realize the future of “Utilizing the sky for daily move”. Skydrive was established in July, 2018 and developed “Flying Car” and “Distribution Drone”. In developing “Flying car”, Skydrive is the only company which realized manned flight test, and also participated in designing the system as a member of public-private conference. The “distribution drone”, which is capable of carrying goods weighing up to 30 kg, is utilized in work sites mainly in mountainous area. As for ”Flying car”, a two-manned type is under development and aiming at launch of transportation in 2025, Osaka Bay Area.
(8) Skydrive’s relation with Nippon Kayaku: Not applicable in capital relationship, personal relationship, business relationship and related party.
※ hat is ”Flying Car”: Although there is no specific definition, main images are: “Electric”, “Automatic control” and ”Vertical takeoff/landing”. In other countries, it is called eVTOL（Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft）or UAM（Urban Air Mobility）, and started working on developing them as a new mobility.
As a new movement in mobility field, developent of flying car is proceeding in every country around the world, and also in Japan, “The Public-Private Committee for Advanced Air Mobility” is held from 2018, and a roadmap（＃） aiming at a full-scale spread in the 2030s is drawn up by METI (the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and MLIT(the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Tourism).
※ This part is quoted from the following URL by MLIT (The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Tourism) as of March, 2021.
https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001400794.pdf
＃ This roadmap is quoted from the following URL by METI (The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) as of March, 2022.
https://www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/mono_info_service/air_mobility/pdf/008_01_02.pdf
Image quoted from：https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000072.000038857.html
