Star Wars fan and founder of flying motorbike start-up prepares to take his company public in Japan
- ALI Technologies, founded by former Merrill Lynch derivatives trader Shuhei Komatsu, plans to go public on Tokyo’s Mothers market for start-ups
- Several next-generation air mobility peers are already trading on New York exchanges, including Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium and Vertical Aerospace
The US$777,000 single-person transporter can hit a maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour) and travel up to 40 minutes per charge, according to the company. The bike has so far largely figured as a curio at public events such as a recent baseball game, but ALI president Daisuke Katano said there is strong interest in it from Middle Eastern nations.
“The need for these bikes will be higher in places with desert or other difficult terrain,” Katano said in an interview. “The vehicle will enable people to travel where roads are bad and inaccessible to cars, as well as across bodies of water.”
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Flying personal vehicles have been the stuff of science fiction for decades before Star Wars, which featured a famous racing scene with pods zooming along close to ground level. The ALI bike is similarly not intended to fly far up in the air, primarily helping to traverse inhospitable terrain. It is built like an enlarged drone with a traditional motorcycle seat and steering on top.
Founder Komatsu has described his aim as realising an “air mobility society”, where cars, bikes and other vehicles can transport people in the sky.
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“There are expectations for growth, so once products like these make it to the headlines, the company’s stock could be bought, getting a boost from retail investors,” said Tomoichiro Kubota, a senior market analyst at Matsui Securities Co. “But the company is not yet at a level where people could talk about a detailed earnings outlook, which makes it hard to pin an appropriate valuation figure.”
While a successful IPO will make ALI the only listed company in Japan that specialises in next-generation air mobility, several peers are already trading on New York exchanges. This includes Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium and Vertical Aerospace.
Joby, which has a market capitalisation of more than US$3 billion, is close to commercialising what the industry calls eVTOLs, or electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. These flying taxis are battery-powered and, the companies say, destined to fly without a pilot once regulations allow.
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“Air mobility companies listed in the US have pretty sizeable market caps,” ALI’s Katano said. “If you consider our company to be of a similar kind, I think we’ll be able to win the understanding of investors for a decent valuation.”
ALI will aim for a unicorn valuation – US$1 billion or more – over the long term, Katano said. But the company has yet to decide on the best way to categorise its vehicle, which will depend on discussions with local regulators where the product is sold.
“We think our aircraft could be categorised differently to existing airplanes,” Katano said. “It doesn’t travel on the ground, but still flies closer to land and at low altitudes.”
