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Tag: air taxi

  • Electric Aviation Company Alleges ‘Corporate Espionage’ in Lawsuit Against Rival

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    Two next-generation aviation companies are facing off in a legal battle. 

    Joby Aviation is suing Archer Aviation over allegations that its rival misappropriated trade secrets that were stolen from Joby by a former employee. Joby filed the lawsuit Thursday. It comes as the two companies push to roll out electric air taxi service in the U.S.

    “Archer brazenly used that stolen information to interfere with Joby’s exclusive strategic partnership,” the complaint reads. “This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated.”

    Both companies are developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, meant to operate as air taxis. Santa Cruz, California-based Joby Aviation is targeting Dubai for the initial launch of its first air taxi service before rolling out in the U.S. cities like Los Angeles and New York, in partnership with Delta Air Lines. Archer Aviation is based in San Jose, California, and also aims to roll out its air taxi service in New York City, but in partnership with United Airlines. Both trade publicly on the New York Stock Exchange and have contracts with the Department of Defense for military applications of their technology.

    The lawsuit centers around Archer employee George Kivork, who had previously worked as Joby’s head of U.S. state and local policy. On his LinkedIn, Kivork describes his current role at Archer as general manager. Prior to Joby, he worked as a senior public policy manager at Lyft, in various roles for the city of Los Angeles, and as an attorney in the Department of Commerce’s Office of General Counsel.

    The lawsuit alleges that two days before Kivork left the company, he withdrew “dozens of files” from Joby’s systems, even sending some to his personal email. They allegedly contained confidential and proprietary information about “partnership terms, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for vertiports and airport access, and technical information about Joby’s aircraft and operations.” Three weeks later, Joby alleges that Archer approached a major real estate developer that already has a strategic partnership with Joby, and pitched a deal that was “specifically calibrated to undercut Joby’s agreement with the Developer.”

    Archer Chief Legal and Strategy Officer Eric Lentel called Joby’s case “bad faith litigation” in a statement provided to Inc.

    “Joby alleges we used their trade secrets to win a ‘deal’ with a developer but the reality is that Archer has no deal with this developer and Mr. Kivork did not bring any Joby confidential information to Archer,” Lentell said. “Joby knows these facts and is now improperly attempting to achieve through bad faith litigation what it cannot accomplish through fair competition. Archer remains focused on building the future of advanced aviation in America.”

    Archer has been under legal scrutiny before. In 2021, autonomous eVTOL company Wisk Aero sued Archer for alleged intellectual property theft. The company similarly claimed that Archer had acquired the confidential information through a former employee, TechCrunch reported. The two eventually settled in 2023, and per terms of the dispute, Archer agreed to use Wisk as an autonomous partner, according to CNBC. As of 2023, Wisk is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Chloe Aiello

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  • Etaily is a “one stop solution” for consumer brands that want to enter Southeast Asia | TechCrunch

    Etaily is a “one stop solution” for consumer brands that want to enter Southeast Asia | TechCrunch

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    E-commerce in Southeast Asia grew rapidly during the pandemic, and that momentum is continuing. A McKinsey report found that between now and 2026, the market is expected to triple at compound growth rate of 22%, hitting $230 billion in gross merchandise volume. Not surprisingly, global brands are eager to enter Southeast Asia. E-commerce enablement platform etaily helps them build, manage and scale their e-commerce operations.

    Founded in 2020 and based in the Philippines, etaily announced today it has raised $17.8 million in Series A funding. The round was led by SKS Capital, a Chinese and Taiwanese private equity firm, and Singapore’s Pavilion Capital. SBI ICCP, a joint venture between ICCP Venture Partners in the Philippines and Japan’s SBI Holdings (formerly SoftBank Investments) and Kaya Founders also participated, along with the Magsaysay family, Chan family, Foxmont Capital and JGDEV, the corporate venture arm of JG Summit Holdings.

    Etaily’s ecosystem includes end-to-end solutions for e-commerce and omnichannel global brands, along with its own portfolio of brands. The startup has about 50 global clients, including Levi’s, Crocs, Reckitt and Skechers who use it to develop lifestyle products, manage selling on platforms like Lazada and Shopee and brand.com, and fulfill orders through etaily’s asset-light warehouse network. So far, it has processed over 10 million orders, and expects to reach gross sales of $40 million this year, with a target of $100 million by 2025.

    Before founding etaily, CEO Alexander Friedhoff had a long career in retail, starting with German shirt brand van Laack. There, his roles included manufacturing and product development in Vietnam, and business development and e-commerce implementation in countries like Australia and Germany. After van Laack, Friedhoff went to work at Southeast Asia e-commerce platform Zalora, where he built the Fulfillment by Zalora program.

    etaily founder Alexander Friedhoff

    Friedhoff decided to launch etaily in the Philippines because “Southeast Asia belongs to the fastest growing consumer markets in the world. In fact, the Philippines is the fastest-growing e-commerce market globally,” he told TechCrunch.

    Etaily works primarily with brands in six segments: fashion, consumer electronics, lifestyle, beauty, home and living, and fast-moving consumer goods. They sell on their own websites or on e-commerce platforms like Lazada, Shopee and Zalora.

    The value proposition etaily gives to brands centers around its managed services and technology. Managed services help brands grow by using etaily’s economies of scale, since adding an incremental brand doesn’t add a lot of overhead. It also helps brands on the demand side with customer data, etaily’s market knowledge, conversion optimization, demand forecasting and logistics.

    Etaily monetizes by taking part of sales generated through its platform. It also has a subscription model, where customers pay a recurring fee for access to services like etaily’s subscription-based software, and generates more money through advertising its portfolio brands display on their platforms and content.

    In terms of competition, Friedhoff names three companies: Japan’s Anymind, Intrepid Ascential and OnPoint Vietnam. Etaily also competes with regional e-commerce enablers. Etaily’s competitive advantage is how its operating platform is designed, and ability to capture more of the value chain, Friedhoff said. It’s omnichannel capabilities enables offline point-of-sale integration in the supply chain, which means global consumer brands that want to enter the Philippines only need etaily as a partner, instead of also finding one for brick and mortar sales.

    Another advantage is the amount of data etaily generates by scaling different e-commerce brands. This gives them a lot of data points about consumer behavior, channel, demand and traffic, which helps brands as they launch.

    Etaily’s vertically integrated services include selling its own brands and luxury 3rd party brands in more than 200 storefronts it operates on e-commerce platforms and standalone websites. Most of them are powered by Clarity, etaily’s end-to-end e-commerce technology and operating ecosystem, which includes fully integrated trading, marketing modules, real-time business intelligence data, payments, couriers, fulfillment and customer service. The company also offers product development services based on its consumer and market data, and digital brand building and content creation through Etaily Studios.

    Etaily will use its Series A to expand in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, work on its distribution platform for brands and expand its portfolio of brands (including its in-house brands). It also plans to invest in its proprietary tech, including an operating system, data analytics and Clarity.

    In a statement, SKS Capital founder Jack Chen said, “Etaily’s asset-light strategy, along with their extensive knowledge of e-commerce, supply chain and their utilization of data-driven insights to understand consumer behavior and demand, offer significant prospects for incorporating advanced omnichannel technology solutions into brand operations. This will enable substantial growth in the future.”

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    Catherine Shu

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  • Archer Aviation aims to launch all-electric air taxi service in India in 2026 | TechCrunch

    Archer Aviation aims to launch all-electric air taxi service in India in 2026 | TechCrunch

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    Archer Aviation, the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle startup, has partnered with India’s travel and hospitality conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises to launch an all-electric air taxi service in the country in 2026. If successful, it would make the South Asian nation its second international market outside the U.S. to experience its ambitious air taxi operations after the United Arab Emirates.

    Both companies said Thursday that the service, subject to regulatory approvals and clearances, will be “cost-competitive with ground transportation” and improve urban mobility in the world’s most populous country with low-noise electric air taxis. The partnership plans to finance the purchase of up to 200 Archer’s “Midnight” aircraft. The vertical takeoff and landing aircraft has a capacity of four passengers and a pilot and can fly for up to 100 miles.

    Starting with routes in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, the electric air-taxi service aims to complete about a 17-mile trip in the national capital in 7 minutes — a journey that typically takes 60 to 90 minutes by car.

    Archer and InterGlobe plan to work with domestic businesses to operate the electric aircraft, finance and build vertiport infrastructure, and train pilots and other personnel needed for the operations. Both companies are also looking to explore different use cases for the aircraft apart from being into the urban air taxi service, including cargo, logistics, medical and emergency services, as well as private company and charter services.

    Counts Boeing and United Airlines among its investors, Archer secured a $142 million deal in August to provide up to six Midnight flights to the U.S. Air Force. The California-based company wants to replace car commutes with its eVTOL flights in urban areas. In August, the company secured Federal Aviation Administration certification to begin testing eVTOL flights in the U.S. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office last month to start its service in the United Arab Emirates in 2026.

    “India is one of, if not the largest opportunity for eVTOL aircraft utilization in the world, as it is home to the world’s largest population of over 1.4 billion people and its largest cities face some of the greatest congestion challenges in the world,” said Archer CEO and founder Adam Goldstein, in a prepared statement. “Archer’s all-electric Midnight aircraft is designed to provide a revolutionary transportation solution that can help address these congestion issues.”

    InterGlobe Enterprises, which backs India’s top air carrier IndiGo, looks to expand its presence in affordable transportation with the new partnership.

    “We are excited at this new opportunity of bringing an effective, futuristic and sustainable transport solution by introducing Archer’s electric aircraft to India,” said Rahul Bhatia, group managing director of InterGlobe.

    Urban transportation in India has started facing challenges as the country has seen a rapid increase in the number of passenger and commercial vehicles in the last few years, alongside limited road expansion and non-uniform roadway geometrics across cities. While state authorities have emphasized the use of public transport to reduce traffic congestion, the country has not yet found an adequate solution and is looking at next-generation options, including air taxis and hyperloop, to get a sustainable future.

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    Jagmeet Singh

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