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externala startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and drone technology, is nearing completion after five years of operation.
In an update posted on its website, Exosonic said it had been unable to find the momentum needed to continue operations.
“Although the founders and team continue to believe in the need/desire for quiet supersonic flight and supersonic UAVs for the US Department of Defense, without further customer support for either concept, the company cannot sustain the cash needs to advance further progress.” “. Update says.
Exosonic was founded in 2019 by Norris Tye, a propulsion engineer who cut his teeth in primes like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin; At the latter company, he reportedly worked on the low-altitude X-59 aircraft for NASA. Exosonic joined Y Combinator for the winter of 2020 and went on to raise more than $4.5 million from venture investors, including Soma Capital, Psion Capital, and Stellar Solutions. The startup has also received several small grants from the US Air Force under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
The company has been making progress: It achieved a major milestone earlier this year when it flew its first aircraft, a sub-version of its supersonic drone called the EX-3M Trident, on a test flight in California. It also had two other vehicles in development: a supersonic aircraft called Horizon and a larger drone called Revenant.
It appears that the company was ultimately unable to bridge what is often referred to in the defense technology field as the “valley of death” – the period between research and development and commercialization. This is a known problem for vendors looking to sell to the Department of Defense, and it’s a place venture capitalists have said they can step in — unless they don’t. As put by Exosonic LinkedIn“Without further government support for supersonic drone development in the near term, Exosonic is no longer able to maintain the capital required to further develop this concept.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Tie for comment and will update the story if he responds.
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