It’s been one year since we started dreaming about affordable supersonic passenger airplanes with Boom, one of our portfolio startups. But, building such airplanes is not cheap and it not only requires time but also a great team. And to make it all happen, Boom has successfully raised $33M in Series A round. This funding amount is enough for Boom to build its Baby Boom (XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator) that is one third scale realization of actual Boom passenger airliner and most probably it would fly next year to demonstrate the key technologies for practical supersonic travel.
“This funds our first airplane, all the way through flight tests,” explained Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl in an interview. “Now we have all the pieces we need – technology, suppliers and capital – to go out and make some history and set some speed records.”
“We have almost all the engineering completed, and the first wing components are showing up in the office this week,” Scholl told me about their progress since wind tunnel testing. “We’re about to do structural tests, and then we’re probably about a year away from flight.”
The investors contributing to the new round include 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Palm Drive Ventures, RRE Ventures and YC’s Continuity Fund. YC President Sam Altman joins the board alongside this round, as does entrepreneur and investor Greg McAdoo. Boom’s total funding is now at $41 million, and also includes investment from Lightbank and Paul Graham.
Please read full story at TechCrunch.