A supersonic jet that has the ability to fly from LA to Australia in under 7 hours has secured AUD$43.3 million in series A funding. The Denver-based start-up company behind the jet is called Boom. Boom secured funding from a variety of funders, including 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Palm Drive Ventures, RRE Ventures, and Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund.
It’s with the help of these investors that the company is able to fund its current focus, the XB-1. The XB-1, more commonly known as the ‘Baby Boom’, is a one third model of the Boom. The Boom will be a passenger plane that has seats and will be sold at an affordable price.
Although the company Boom eventually wants to build the Boom, they’re focusing on getting the Baby Boom off the ground first. Both the Boom and the Baby Boom are looking at travelling 2,717 kph or Mach 2.2. This would cut the travel time in the air by half, reducing a trip to LA from Sydney from 13.5 hours to 6.5 hours.
When Boom chief executive Blake Scholl was asked why his company was doing what it was doing, he extolled the benefits of quicker travel.
“While we love the hard engineering and technical challenges, what really drives us is the enormous human benefit of faster travel. Sixty years after the dawn of the jet age, we’re still flying at 1960s speeds,” Scholl said.
Feel free to check out the XB-1 and the way of the future below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdE9wHkgfbA
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