Alpine 4 Technologies, Ltd., owner of several small market businesses, announced that it has entered into a binding LOI with Vayu (U.S.), Inc.. Vayu builds high-performance vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) hybrid propulsion-based, autonomous aircraft.
Its customers and partners range from public and private entities in Australia, Canada and sub-Saharan Africa in a variety of sectors – from critical medical supply transport to infrastructure inspection. Vayu represents Alpine 4’s second recent acquisition in the fast-growing UAV space and will serve as a vital addition to the platform capabilities of Impossible Aerospace.
The shareholders of Vayu are primarily leading venture capitalists and angel investors, including Tesla Motors founder’s Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning and Cosmonaut Esther Dyson, as well as public health experts. Like Impossible Aerospace, the transaction will be completed in a reverse triangular merger with a newly formed subsidiary of Alpine 4. Upon meeting the final closing conditions, Vayu will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Alpine 4.
Vayu and Alpine 4 expect to have the closing conditions met by January 10th, 2021. Daniel Pepper, the current CEO of Vayu, will continue on in his role as CEO.
Strategic Rationale
Kent Wilson, CEO of Alpine 4, had this to say,
“I cannot say enough about Vayu and why I absolutely love this company. Their mission is resolute and purposeful. Their X5, G1 and G2 aircraft are designed to deliver lifesaving medicine and technology to people within inaccessible areas of developing countries, as well as hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities in the U.S. The mission-driven purpose of it alone is even more significant than its dollar value. When you look at the evolving landscape of the commercial UAV industry, you see an abundance of opportunities for Vayu’s family of VTOL aircraft. Its seven years of expertise combines not only core technologies advantages but also invaluable market insights.
Vayu’s platforms complement the multicopters from Impossible Aerospace. Both Vayu and Impossible Aerospace have unique qualities that make their respective platforms advantageous and complementary, depending on the requirements of the end-user. Combining these two companies into the Alpine 4 portfolio of subsidiaries gives us a wider and larger scope of commercial clients and positions the company to capture a large market share of the commercial drone industry.”
Daniel Pepper, CEO of Vayu, said,
“This represents the beginning of a new chapter in Vayu’s story. The company began in response to an acute need of tremendous magnitude: solving some of the hardest logistical challenges for delivering medical care, anywhere in the world. Over the years Vayu’s capabilities have grown in size and capability, and in direct response to an enormous amount of customer and stakeholder engagement. Platforms such as the G1 and the G2 are virtually unmatched in the civilian market, yet their demand is as critical as ever. Whether it is for maritime surveillance, forest fire monitoring, linear asset inspection, or the primary and core use case of medical delivery, Vayu’s opportunity set is wide, diverse, and growing. In the years to come, Vayu will further expand its offerings to a range of customers, ever expanding its payload and range capabilities, while further investing in its autopilot and avionics expertise to further safety, reliability, and autonomy.”
Transaction highlights include:
- Advanced UAV autopilot software: The acquisition of Vayu will allow Alpine 4 to incorporate Vayu’s highly advanced and rugged autopilot company-wide for other applications such as with Impossible Aerospace’s US-1 drone.
- Large Medical Market Opportunities: The rural medical markets of ‘last mile’ and ‘middle mile’ delivery that can be supported by Vayu’s drone technology are large and growing. Vayu’s G1 has a payload of 12lb while its G2 aircraft has a payload capacity of up to 44lbs.
- Vertical Manufacturing: Having Vayu within the portfolio of Alpine 4 companies will add more integration opportunities with our subsidiary Quality Circuit Assembly and have cross-pollination manufacturing opportunities for the team at Vayu.
Vayu builds high-performance gas/electric VTOL aircraft that save lives. Founded in 2014 by Daniel Pepper, the company unveiled its X5 in 2016, and its G1 and G2 aircraft in 2020. Vayu’s mission is to solve the hardest and most critical logistics challenges, anywhere in the world, aiming to set the standard and lead the market in safe, reliable, and autonomous VTOL aircraft.
Source: Press Release