FLYING BIKE COMPANY FILES BANKRUPTCY
A former employee reveals the reality of the development process: “We focused on the appearance of the product, which led to high costs,” and “We were running on a bicycle. We were operating on a bicycle. We spent all the money we had received, and there was nothing left to spend.”
A.L.I. Technologies, a Japanese venture company that developed a “flying bike,” filed for bankruptcy with the Tokyo District Court.
It can fly for up to 40 minutes at a maximum speed of 100 km/h and is priced at 77.7 million yen. The vehicle can only be driven on circuits and other private property and not on public roads. 200 units are available for pre-order, and in December 2022, Yoshiyuki Aikawa, president of SBC Medical Group, purchased and delivered the vehicle, which became the talk of the town. However, A.L.I. Technologies decided to begin bankruptcy proceedings on January 10, effectively going bankrupt. According to media reports, the company’s total liabilities amounted to 1,167.5 million yen as it continued to incur losses due to heavy investment in R&D. When we spoke to a former employee of the company, he told us, “I am the one who is responsible for the company.
When we spoke to a former employee, he said, “As far as I know, it is sporty. The company is quite focused on the appearance of the product, which has led to high costs in terms of processing costs and so on. If we were making something with the idea that it doesn’t have to be tacky, but practical and something that people in developing countries can afford, we could have made it in a completely different way and at a much lower cost,” he explained.
In December 2022, there were already concerns within the company about the business, and the former employee said, “We had planned to raise money by going public to solve this problem, but we could hardly raise funds as we had hoped. We finally ran out of funds,” he said. The management at the time was aiming to list the company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in order to raise funds, but they decided to switch to listing on the NASDAQ in the U.S. because they found it “financially difficult” and decided to list the company in a special way called “SPAC.
YAHOO NEWS
January 25, 2024
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2ced6f3f897ce4423d61bd246850db1242f15bab
