Flight automation tech company Skyryse raised $200 million in Series B fundraising, the company announced Wednesday.
The closing of the second round of investment, which increased the total raised by the company to $250 million, was led by Monashee Investment Management and Fidelity Management & Research Company, Skyryse said.
The Los Angeles-based company says it will use the funding to accelerate development of its FlightOS technology, an automated flight control system designed to eliminate the learning curve for new pilots through a tablet-installed interface.
The news comes as the company also announced it had entered partnerships with five fixed wing and rotorcraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Robinson Helicopters.
“The OEMs will purchase FlightOS, and Robinson Helicopters, the largest production rotorcraft manufacturer in the world, plans to integrate Skyryse’s system into its flagship model, the R66,” Skyryse said.
The FlightOS technology, which Skyryse says may be integrated into any aircraft, offers pilots intuitive controls through touchscreen tablets and a joystick to replace the complexity of typical cockpit controls.
“The technology protects the pilot from exiting the flight envelope, removes nearly all of the complexities of flying and safely manages the aircraft through emergencies,” the company said. “Pilots can learn to fly a Skyryse-equipped aircraft in minutes, instead of weeks, and the system can safely fly in zero-visibility conditions. With Skyryse, the pilot’s workload is dramatically reduced, freeing them to focus on the most critical flying decisions.”
The technology “will usher in a new era of mobility,” Skyryse CEO and founder, Dr. Mark Groden, said in a statement.
“We’re on a mission to empower anyone to fly anywhere in any aircraft as safely as the most experienced pilots in the world,” Groden said.
Skyryse also announced two new top advisers: former FAA administrator Michael Huerta and former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Christopher Hart.
“Skyryse is bringing commercial aviation safety technology, which is the safest mode of transportation in the world, to the mass aviation market,” Huerta said in a statement.
“This is a breakthrough that the aviation industry has been waiting for to make air transportation accessible to everyone at safety levels that were previously attainable only on commercial airlines,” Hart said.
