(NCV), the corporate venture capital fund of NEXEN TIRE, announced today that it has invested in ANRA Technologies, a supplier of air traffic control and commercial solutions in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) industry, to further NCV’s goal of spearheading the mobility revolution.
Last March, NCV announced plans to fuel the growth of NEXEN TIRE’s corporate vision of improving overall customer mobility beyond tires by targeting mobility technologies such as mobility as a service (MaaS), artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and self-driving technologies; and has selected the UAM sector as its first investment target.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a revolutionary technology that aims to improve the efficiency of transportation in urban and suburban areas. UAM uses highly automated and sustainable modes of transportation to move passengers and cargo at low altitudes. UAM offers a technological solution to road traffic congestion in populated cities by enabling the distribution of road traffic to the airspace, thereby effectively addressing environmental as well as congestion issues.
Headquartered in the U.S., ANRA Technologies is a leading international provider of uncrewed aircraft system traffic management (UTM) solutions for commercial drone operators and airspace managers. ANRA Technologies offers intelligent and modular traffic management software capabilities for UTM and UAM operations. The technology underlying UTM is the key enabler for the future of UAM; in that such technology in effect functions as an air traffic control tower, allowing aircrafts to move safely and efficiently.
ANRA Technologies has worked on numerous UTM projects for NASA and the FAA, and is the only company in the world to support both NASA and the EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) as a provider of UAM airspace services. ANRA Technologies has also partnered with Swiggy, India’s largest online food delivery platform, achieving a 100-flight hour milestone while carrying out BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) delivery operations in India.
Launched in March 2021 through a joint investment with NEXEN CORP, the holding company of NEXEN TIRE, NCV endeavors to utilize the capabilities, experience and resources of its limited partners while bringing LPs and startups together to leverage their complementary strength with the aim of co-creating the future of mobility.
“We strive to disrupt the status quo of the mobility industry by investing in exceptional entrepreneurs with transformative ideas and technologies,” said Jin Man Lee, CEO of Next Century Ventures. “At the same time, we are compelled by a calling to discover futuristic technologies that have the potential to connect individuals more safely and with ease and comfort, bringing joy to everyone’s daily lives; and we are continuously on the lookout for such innovative opportunities.”
Source: Press Release