Martin Jetpack, the New Zealand-based company that aims to bring a commercial jetpack to the market, raised $27 million Tuesday in its initial public offering, bringing the total value of the company to about $100 million, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. First deliveries of the devices, aimed at the first-responder market, are scheduled for late 2016, at a retail price of about $200,000. The company says the jetpacks can carry one or two people for up to 30 minutes. The company is also working on an unmanned version of the jetpack, called a Skyhook, which would be capable of carrying loads of up to 260 pounds.
The company also closed a deal last month with Kuang Chi Science, a Hong Kong investment fund, raising $50 million over the next two years. “We are excited with the prospect to partner on this disruptive transport technology,” Kuang Chi Science executive chair Liu Ruopeng said at the time. “With our knowledge of advanced materials we hope to be able to help build a lighter, stronger Jetpack with increased payload and range that will open a whole new set of market opportunities here in China and globally.” The Jetpack features a composite structure pilot module and a ballistic parachute system that the company says can deploy and safely recover the aircraft from as low as a few meters above the ground.
