Drone delivery is one of 2023’s hottest topics — and one American drone delivery company called blueflite is giving folks a rare glimpse under the hood of its operations.
While some companies like Amazon have been pretty mum about what is happening, other companies are relying on maximal hype, promoting one-off deliveries with popular restaurants to drum up attention. But Michigan-based drone delivery platform blueflite is taking a completely fresh approach. Tomorrow, it’s set to offer up an opportunity to ask its co-founder and CEO absolutely anything.
Blueflite on Friday will host an “Ask-Me-Anything” (AMA) session conducted through Facebook Live (that’s Jan. 27, 2023 at 10 a.m. ET). Questions will be answered by blueflite CEO and cofounder Dr. Frank Noppel. (You can register for free to get a Facebook notification of the event starting here).
The company is calling it “a milestone event that will allow the public to get an inside look into the emerging cargo and logistics drone space.”
The blueflite AMA is expected to be attended by everyone from potential tech investors to any drone enthusiasts curious about delivery — any folks who want to have a direct dialogue with the drone industry experts making it happen.
What’s new with blueflite?
Blueflite has been in the cargo drone business since 2018 as a key player in designing and manufacturing the drones themselves. The company also operates a proprietary logistics system and an advanced AI for smarter, more cost effective deliveries.
Its patented drone stands out primarily for its unique, all-electrical drone design with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.
A patent for its unique drone design
At the end of 2022, blueflite got a big leg up in solidifying its position as a key drone delivery player when the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued the company a patent related to its advanced logistics drone platform.
The patent is specific to blueflite’s proprietary design — including the unique tilt mechanism, internal payload bay, compact wing design, and control software. For the nerds out there, it’s Utility Patent No. 11,492,106.
What’s so special about this design? In short, it comes down to the tilt-mechanism. While most delivery drones have to make a tradeoff between maneuverability versus long range, blueflite solves the problem as advanced on-board control code enables vectored thrust.
Another difference is that blueflite’s drones carry items in an internal payload bay, which protects the packages from weather like rain.
An opportunity for regular people to invest
Blueflite has its eyes on even more growth in 2023, and it’s opening up an avenue for people to invest who aren’t just big-time Silicon Valley investors. Sure, the company has separately raised several million dollars through grants and funding from investors including Techstars and C-level executives.
But it’s also opening up the investor pool to anyone who wants to call themselves a drone investor — even if they are not one of the drone investing giants.
The company recently launched a crowd equity campaign, being run through StartEngine, an investing platform that allows everyday people to invest and buy shares in startups and early stage companies. Take a look at Blueflite’s crowd-funding campaign here.
So far, the company has raised roughly $300,000 across 81 investors. Though if you’re interested in investing, move fast. The company, which says it has a valuation of $22 million, said it is capping investments at $1.2 million. The funds are set to be used to scale production of its operations, which are already revenue-generating and not simply in the test phase.
Right now, blueflite said its revenue-generating drone flights are primarily around delivering life-saving medical products (as opposed to food deliveries, which many other drone delivery companies are focused on).
Register for blueflite’s free Facebook Live event here. The event will run on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
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