Important Innovations Collection

Dawn of Flying Taxi Services                                                 Source:  Embraer & Eve Eve Publicly Traded on NYSE This is turning out to be quite the week for Brazilian aerospace company Embraer and its eVTOL subsidiary and partner Eve.  Eve's technology is undergoing flight tests over Rio de Janeiro this week to collect data on its vertical landing and takeoff capabilities.  They're using conventional, piloted helicopters that are part of Embraer's Autonomous System project or EASy to do the testing and push forward the goal of autonomous flights.  It's another aviation landmark in the journey toward fully certified and autonomous eVTOL (electric, vertical takeoff and landing) flying taxis. Eve Goes Public Simultaneously, Eve was spun-off by Embraer this week and has just started trading on the NYSE. ...

Urban Air Taxis Becoming a Reality                                             Source:  Vertical Aerospace Vertical Aerospace of  the UK UK flying taxi company Vertical Aerospace just announced that it has pre-orders for up to 1,000 of its zero emissions VA-X4 flying taxis from American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Avolon.  Also, Microsoft is providing the company with backing.  The pre-orders are worth $4 billion.  The electric flying taxi prototype is now in production with the first test flight slated for later this year. Tech Specs The e-VTOL takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter.  It can hit speeds of 202 mph and has a range of more than 100 miles.  VA-X4 is nearly silent during flight. It carries 4 passengers and a pilot. American Airlines has pre-ordered 250 vehicles with an option to purchase 100 mor...

Joby Aviation Going Public on NYSE                                                       Source:  Joby Aviation Big Tech Investors Behind the eVTOL Company Electric aviation company Joby Aviation is going public on the NYSE.  It is using a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to do so.   The northern California company will come out of the box with a valuation of $6.6 billion.  Joby is a very hot "future of mobility" company.  It recently acquired Uber's flying taxi division.  Joby is backed by Toyota, Intel and Jet Blue.  And, the SPAC company it is merging with - Reinvent Technology - is run by Linked-In cofounder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Marc Pincus.  As part of the SPAC deal, Joby will get $1.6 billion cash. Joby is readying its flying taxis for sc...

December IPO To Raise $2.8 Billion                                             Source:  DoorDash Hot Food Delivery US Startup San Francisco based startup DoorDash is expected to raise nearly $3 billion in a December IPO on the NYSE.  That would double the value of the food delivery startup.  DoorDash is expected to be one of the biggest IPO's of 2020. COVID-19 Driving Restaurant Meal Take-Outs COVID-19 has greatly accelerated demand for meal delivery services as people try to avoid going into restaurants and stores.  That has driven up business for Door Dash, which is the biggest, 3rd party delivery service for restaurants in the US. Millions of IPO Shares DoorDash is pricing 33 million shares at between $75 and $85.  At $85 per share that would give DoorDash a market cap of $27 billion.  In June during a private fundraising roun...

Branson's Virgin Galactic 1st Publicly Traded Space Tourism Company Source:  NYSE Listed on the NYSE Virgin Galactic is the first space tourism company to land on Wall Street.  It's listed on the NYSE as SPCE.  It began trading on Monday and right out of the launch pad it soared up 5% at its debut.  It has a market cap of $1 billion. This underscores the interest of investors and the public in space tourism. Founder & entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson  rang the First Trade Bell on Monday to commemorate the occasion.  Sir Richard commented:  "Now anyone can invest in the future of space". Space Tourism Plans Virgin Galactic has intergalactic plans. It first wants to offer space flights to six passengers at a time for $250,000 each for trips to the weightless outskirts of space.  Trips begin in the summer of 2020.  More than 600 have signed up for the space tourism journey.  Branson joins fellow billionaires inclu...

Upstart, New AI Driven Stock Venue Source:  Stock Image Highly Innovative Stock Trading Imperative Execution is an artificial intelligence driven, US stock trading venue operator.  It's currently going after business with the NYSE and other stock exchanges by adopting their pricing models.  The company indicates that they could also very soon list as a new stock exchange.  This is another important example of artificial intelligence impacting another key industry, in this case investing in real-time. More Public Visibility Imperative Execution runs IntelligentCross, which is an alternative trading system (ATS).  The ATS uses AI to monitor and improve its performance in real time to save investors money.  The issue for the company is the lack of public visibility.  That's why it wants to either list as an exchange or partner with an existing exchange. Pulling in New Subscribers As an ATS, it's government registered, broker r...

Space Tourism Headed to NYSE Source:  Virgin Galactic Space Plane World's First Listed Space Tourism Company Richard Branson is taking his space tourism company Virgin Galactic to the stock market to sell shares in the company.  His hope is the share price will go into intergalactic orbit.  Virgin Galactic will be the world's first space tourism company that's publicly traded.  He's doing this by merging with Social Capital Hedosophia, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange.  By merging with a listed company, Branson avoids the need and expense of an Initial Public Offering and investor road shows. Cash Flows The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019.  Social Capital Hedosophia will acquire 49% of Virgin Galactic for an estimated price of $1.3 billion. There are reports that will raise $800 million in cash for Branson's company.  Branson's goal in going public is to generate cash until Virgin Galactic starts turning a pr...

eCommerce Retailer Jumia Innovative Approach to online Retailing in Africa This is a first for Africa.  Nigeria based Jumia just became the first African startup to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  It could go public with an IPO within a month.  The company offers a wide range of products online, which it delivers by scooter.  The breakthrough innovation is that it has enabled mobile money and a variety of payment options throughout Africa.  That's a key differentiator because there are few bank accounts in Africa. Diversified Entity Jumia was founded in Lagos by two French entrepreneurs in 2012 and now offers goods and services to 4 million customers throughout Africa.  Besides online retailing, it has branched out into hotels, airline bookings and food delivery.  Would be rivals Amazon and Alibaba have not made inroads into African online retailing because of the poor infrastructure and lack of formal addresses and bank accounts....