LIFT

Your Flying Car Has Arrived

Company Information

Website:

https://www.startengine.com/lift

Sector:

Other Transportation

Location:

Austin, TX

Horseless carriages. Putting a man on the moon. A portable phone.

These concepts once seemed like nothing more than science fiction. But they became real, historic achievements in innovation.

LIFT Aircraft is working on what could become the next great real-world concept: a flying car.

This company has developed an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or “eVTOL” for short. It’s a type of electric helicopter that is cheaper, quieter, and more mobile than traditional choppers. In other words, it's a type of flying car.

Boeing has already created an eVTOL aircraft. So has Airbus, Uber, and Rolls Royce. Other companies working on flying cars include Google, Toyota, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Hyundai.

Their focus explains why Urban Air Mobility is set to become one of the largest industries in the world. According to a Morgan Stanley report, this market will reach one trillion dollars by 2040, and nine trillion dollars by 2050.

The thing is, the companies above are already worth hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars. Their profit potential isn’t as great as investing in an early-stage startup targeting this market, a startup like LIFT Aircraft.

LIFT’s aircraft is a single-seat vehicle called “HEXA.” It’s essentially a big drone with a seat in it. Modular in design, its cabin and landing gear can be swapped out with various payloads, enabling a variety of manned and unmanned applications — everything from recreational flying to emergency response scenarios.

HEXA can reach speeds of up to ninety miles per hour and fly up to fifteen miles in ten minutes. It was built specifically for short-range flights. (This is important, as eighty-five percent of car trips are less than fifteen miles.)

Notably, LIFT designed HEXA with the average traveler in mind. For instance, the aircraft comes with numerous safety features, including a redundant autopilot system, floats in the event of a water landing, and a whole-aircraft ballistic parachute that deploys autonomously.

Additionally, flying HEXA doesn’t require extensive training, or even a pilot’s license. New pilots can be airborne after less than an hour of instruction.

LIFT completed an initial design of HEXA in 2017. It then created a prototype a year later, and conducted its first test flight a year after that. In December 2019, LIFT became the first U.S. company to start production on an eVTOL aircraft, partnering with Qarbon Aerospace, an aerospace supplier that manufactures components for Boeing aircraft.

More recently, LIFT won an R&D contract with the U.S. Air Force to use HEXA in emergency medical situations and a flight test contract with the Air Force Research Lab.

To date, the company has conducted more than 700 test flights and production of its aircraft is underway. It’s received more than ten million dollars in funding, including from venture capital firms Capital Factor, Point Nine Capital, ATX Venture Partners, and Decisive Point.

To introduce its flying car to the masses, LIFT is building America’s first eVTOL “vertiport” — essentially an airport designed specifically for its HEXA aircraft.

At its vertiports, anyone will be able to book introductory fifteen-minute flights on a HEXA aircraft. The company will charge around $250 per flight, and projects to generate more than one million dollars in annual revenue from each aircraft produced.

Team Background

Matt Chasen - Founder & CEO

Matt is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in the aerospace and transportation industries.

While obtaining his MBA at the University of Texas, he founded uShip, a transportation marketplace serving the freight and shipping sectors. He guided this company to $200 million in annual sales, and received an award from the Austin Business Journal for “Best CEO.” He also was named to Austin, Texas’ “Under 40” list, was named a Texas “Rising Star,” and was an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist in 2012.

Prior to business school, Matt was an engineer at Boeing, an aviation company, where he worked on the F-22 fighter, airborne laser, and other advanced aerospace projects. Before Boeing, he studied mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Texas, and was a NASA scholarship recipient.

In addition to his role with LIFT, Matt is a co-founder of Hitch, a transportation startup focused on micro-mobility travel, and is a partner with ATX Seed Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage startups.

Jace McCown - Director of Flight Operations

Jace is a U.S. Air Force veteran and licensed commercial pilot. He’s also a certified flight instructor and a licensed unmanned aircraft system remote pilot.

He spent a decade in the military, serving as a helicopter instructor pilot. After that, he was a flight test engineer and Chief Pilot with Skyways Air Transportation, an aviation and aerospace company.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a graduate certificate in Agroforestry from the University of Missouri.

Kevin Rustagi - Director of Business Development

Kevin is a private pilot with experience at Cessna and Cirrus, two aircraft manufacturers.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, as well as his MBA and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, he worked for GE in the company’s Aeroderivative Group. While there, he optimized packages that modified jet engines to increase their power output.

From there, he worked for Apple, focusing on manufacturing and developing prototypes for consumer products. He then founded his first small company, which sold metal business cards. This led to the creation of Ministry of Supply, a fashion company he co-founded that was featured in Forbes, The New York Times, and TechCrunch. Kevin joined LIFT in July 2019.

Balazs Kerulo - Chief Engineer

Balazs is a professional fixed-wing pilot, and was one of the first to ride a “multicopter” in 2015.

He began his career in aviation engineering, working as a department leader with Corvus Aircraft, an aircraft manufacturer. He then was an aircraft engineer with Daws Engineering, an aerospace company.

From there, he was an R&D Director with Slot Consulting, one of the leading European consulting businesses for aviation research projects. After that, he was a manager with Aviocheck, a web services startup, then was Head of Portfolio Management with Bay Zoltan, a Hungary-based research institute.

More recently, Balazs was CEO of ByeGravity, a startup developing drone technology. He holds a Master’s degree in Communications from the University of Szeged in Hungary and studied Aircraft Engineering at the College of Nyiregyhaza.

Kenny Miller - Chief Financial Officer

Kenny began his career as an analyst with Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. From there, he was an associate with JatoTech Ventures, a VC fund that achieved multiple successful exits.

He then worked for Applied Materials, one of the largest manufacturers of semiconductor chips for electronics and computers. After that, he returned to finance, working as a research analyst with Bonanza Capital, an investment management company.

More recently, Kenny was an associate with Aldus Equity, where he led advisement for U.S. public pension funds. From there, he was Managing Director with Nokomis Capital, a hedge fund. He joined LIFT Aircraft in February 2021.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Texas and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

Co-Investors

Capital Factory

Investment firm working with early- and late-stage start-ups whose portfolio includes companies such as Cisco Systems, Buzzfeed and WikiBuy.

Point Nine Capital

A VC firm investing in early-stage startups.

ATX Venture Partners

A VC firm investing in early-stage companies.

Raising
$3.385 million
Committed
$640.315K (19%)
Current Valuation
$188.671 million
Min. Investment
$500
Deal Type
Title III
(For all investors)
Offering Type
Equity
Finance History
Notable Investors
  • Capital Factory
  • Point Nine Capital
  • ATX Venture Partners
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