Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective contributing to $100M funding round for Boom Super...

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The Emerson Collective -- an organization headed by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs -- is one of a number of investors to take part in a $100 million round of funding for Boom, a company attempting to create an economically-viable supersonic airliner.

Overture, Boom Supersonic's project to create a commercially-viable supersonic aircraft
Overture, Boom Supersonic's project to create a commercially-viable supersonic aircraft


Boom Supersonic is working on the Overture airliner, a 55-seat aircraft that is touted to fly at speeds of up to mach 2.2 once completed. The project hopes to bring seat-mile costs similar to subsonic business class equivalents while traveling at much faster speeds, which Boom suggests could make it viable for hundreds of transoceanic routes.

Completed on Friday, the $100 million funding round consisted of $56 million in new investment, reports Crunchbase, as well as "previously-announced strategic investments." The new capital was led by the Emerson Collective, along with Y Combinator's continuity fund, Japan Airlines, Caffeinated Capital, and a number of other investors, bringing the total amount raised by Boom to $141 million.

It is unknown how much investment Emerson Collective specifically put into the project, but it is likely to be a sizable amount of the total.

"This new funding allows us to advance work on Overture," said Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl. "Ultimately, our goal is to make high-speed flight affordable to all."

"Our interest in boom is driven by its vision to enable greater human connection and more empathetic natural and cultural experience through ecologically conscientious design," advised Emerson Collective managing partner Andy Karsner in a press release. "Boom has the leadership, values, and potential to accelerate many advances - lightweight carbon composites and greener fuels - that will reduce the climate impacts of aviation."

The Emerson Collective consists of an unusual mix of non- and for-profit initiatives, including advocating for eduction and immigration reform. The Collective also has other investments in media, including movie production company Anonymous Content and, as of 2017, a majority stake in The Atlantic.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member
    Will some of that $100M be to subsidize the losses that will come with supersonic transport?  You can't make money on planes that size that need all the special gate equipment and excess fuel.  It's a novelty, as was the Concorde which was used to reward the tier members as very few people paid the cash it cost to ride on the Concorde.  


    Anything that brings a new plane to the market I'm a fan of, but the technology doesn't exist to make a profitable business plan using supersonic travel.  There is zero chance they can get the CASM in line with subsonic travel at 55 seats on the plane and have a RASM >$0.  
    patchythepiratecornchip
  • Reply 2 of 9
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    Boom is a poor name choice for any aircraft company.

    "greener fuels" is a cop out unless they mean hydrogen. Supersonic jets burn way too much fuel and place their emissions higher in the atmosphere where thay can potentially do more damage.

    This is somebody's vanity project.
    cgWerkscornchip
  • Reply 3 of 9
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    airnerd said:
    Will some of that $100M be to subsidize the losses that will come with supersonic transport?  You can't make money on planes that size that need all the special gate equipment and excess fuel.  It's a novelty, as was the Concorde which was used to reward the tier members as very few people paid the cash it cost to ride on the Concorde.  


    Anything that brings a new plane to the market I'm a fan of, but the technology doesn't exist to make a profitable business plan using supersonic travel.  There is zero chance they can get the CASM in line with subsonic travel at 55 seats on the plane and have a RASM >$0.  
    Those were slower times, the Concorde era. The market outlook has improved for faster global transport. More people with wider connections with more money. The Concorde was just ahead of its time.

     The imperative with these things in the history of technology is that they will be done if they can be done. Example: landing and reusing first stage rocket boosters.
    steveaupatchythepirate
  • Reply 4 of 9
    "Our interest in boom is driven by its vision to enable greater human connection and more empathetic natural and cultural experience through ecologically conscientious design," advised Emerson Collective managing partner Andy Karsner in a press release.

    That’s some fluffy PR speak there.



    cornchip
  • Reply 5 of 9
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    airnerd said:
    Will some of that $100M be to subsidize the losses that will come with supersonic transport?  You can't make money on planes that size that need all the special gate equipment and excess fuel.  It's a novelty, as was the Concorde which was used to reward the tier members as very few people paid the cash it cost to ride on the Concorde.  


    Anything that brings a new plane to the market I'm a fan of, but the technology doesn't exist to make a profitable business plan using supersonic travel.  There is zero chance they can get the CASM in line with subsonic travel at 55 seats on the plane and have a RASM >$0.  
    As advanced as the Concorde was for its time, there have been huge advances in technology since then that have the potential to eliminate many of the problems that plagued running the Concorde program.  Advances in fuel efficiency, materials, and modeling have gone a long way since then.  I'm sure they have quite a few people that ran the math to hopefully make this program work.  I'm excited for what possibilities will come from it, albeit I may never be able to ever afford a seat on that plane.


  • Reply 6 of 9
    M68000M68000 Posts: 719member
    Not a huge fan of the name Boom, not sure it sounds reassuring.   I have to guess it represents the sonic boom passing the speed of sound.    If I could start up a company like this, maybe go with a name like Thunder Aircraft,  which may give impression of sound and power ?     Anyways,  not an expert on aviation but I think today's larger jets hold a lot more people and cost far far less to run than these supersonic type planes.  It's very cool tech of course, but it's been tried with the Concorde that lasted about 28 years and is no more...
  • Reply 7 of 9
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    sflocal said:
    As advanced as the Concorde was for its time, there have been huge advances in technology since then that have the potential to eliminate many of the problems that plagued running the Concorde program.  Advances in fuel efficiency, materials, and modeling have gone a long way since then.  I'm sure they have quite a few people that ran the math to hopefully make this program work.  I'm excited for what possibilities will come from it, albeit I may never be able to ever afford a seat on that plane.
    This looks considerably smaller too, and only holds about half the people. Seems like a whole different scale of doing things. Yeah, with the advancements, it would be interesting to see how this goes.

    I'm curious about what the greener fuels are, though.
    cornchip
  • Reply 8 of 9
    M68000 said:
    Not a huge fan of the name Boom, not sure it sounds reassuring.   I have to guess it represents the sonic boom passing the speed of sound.    If I could start up a company like this, maybe go with a name like Thunder Aircraft,  which may give impression of sound and power ?     Anyways,  not an expert on aviation but I think today's larger jets hold a lot more people and cost far far less to run than these supersonic type planes.  It's very cool tech of course, but it's been tried with the Concorde that lasted about 28 years and is no more...
    Thundercraft Ho!
  • Reply 9 of 9
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    "Our interest in boom is driven by its vision to enable greater human connection and more empathetic natural and cultural experience through ecologically conscientious design," advised Emerson Collective managing partner Andy Karsner in a press release.

    That’s some fluffy PR speak there.




    Yeah, then again 100M for a project like this is a pretty small sum.
    cgWerks
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