High Ambition, Low in Funding Startup Plans to Build Competitively Priced Flying Car
Israel-based NFT plans to start testing a drone model of the car by October 2019
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Israel-based startup NFT Inc. is developing a fully electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. Simply put, the company is building a flying car. NFT hopes to get an initial prototype in the air as early as next year, according to co-founder Guy Kaplinsky.
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NFT plans a fully electric vehicle the size of a big SUV. According to Kaplinsky, the vehicle will be offered in both electric and hybrid versions and will be priced competitively against regular cars.
Illustration of NFT's flying car. Photo: PR
Tests of a prototype drone are expected to start October 2019, Kaplinsky said. Alluding to FAA regulations, the co-founder explained that the demonstration flights expected to take-off in the third quarter of next year will not have human passengers.
NFT is designing the motors and autonomous capabilities of the car and is already in talks with a European manufacturer to build it, Kaplinski said. Citing a non-disclosure agreement, he declined to identify the manufacturer.
Unlike competitors, Kaplinski said, NFT does not plan to build a drivable plane, but rather a car with wings. NFT is in the automotive sector, not the aerospace sector, Kaplinsky said.
Kaplinsky said he invested $2 million in the company, and the company currently embarking on a $15 million funding round.
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He co-founded NFT with his wife Maki Kaplinsky, the company’s CEO.
“To get to more advanced funding rounds we first need to get to technological and regulatory milestones,” he said.