Having followed the nascent eVTOL industry for a number of years now, and following listening to Vertical Aerospace’s latest results and progress update webcast earlier today, I remain optimistic that Vertical Aerospace is building the team and hopefully soon the aircraft that could one day be a market leader.
While the outcome of their efforts is far from certain at this moment, given the relatively short cash runway available and the need to successfully complete a transition flight with the prototype aircraft, there are aspects that give me hope.
Notably that while previous management expectations of timescales in ‘weeks not months’ have not been achieved, and acknowledged as such on the call by Vertical Chair Dómhnall Slattery, the transition testing continues to progress in tandem with oversight of experts from Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Crucially in the Q&A of today’s webcast when discussing technical aspects that have extended the testing window beyond what was initially anticipated, it would appear that the issues are being resolved methodically, since when mentioning aspects causing delays of days or weeks, they were mentioned in the past tense. The need for optimal weather for testing aside, that gives me hope that team Vertical will achieve a successful transition in time.
When looking at their cash position they expect to use $195m in the next 12 months while having ‘line of sight of $150m to $160m’ including $58m in cash and cash equivalents. That’s not the position I had hoped they would be in right now after the high’s of last year, but all things going well they may be able to muster sufficient cash to see them into 2027.
However I am of the opinion that it is the coming weeks and months that are most crucial to Vertical’s future, as should they complete the transition testing successfully, then I anticipate it will unlock additional sources of funding beyond what is in ‘line of sight’. Hopefully it will unlock funding from those with courage in government along with a strategic investor keen to be part of defining the future of 21st century aviation.
In short Vertical’s future continues to seemingly pivot on its ability to successfully pivot its rotors mid-flight!
Vertical Aerospace: A brief note on why I am sticking with team Vertical!
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u/_DoubleBubbler_ in
DoubleBubbler
