Wellington
It’s the stuff of dreams, but hard work and commitment’s got the
The Jetpack has just been named as one of Time magazine’s 50 most important inventions for 2010.
The company is investigating an NZ sharemarket listing via an initial public offer, but if itcan’t attract ma and pa as well as institutional investors, it will have no option but to seekoverseas funding. “That will come with conditions,” says chief executive Richard Lauder; oftenthat it is built in the country the money comes from.
Founder inventor Glenn Martin has stated he’d prefer that the Jetpack’s development andconstruction stays in New Zealand, and the government has stumped up with R&D funding to get itto a commercially viable proposition.
As it is essentially an aircraft however, the safety and verification has to be to thatindustry’s standard, and commercial production would be 18 months out from obtaining additionalcapital input Lauder says.
The company has already signed a tentative confidential joint venture with one governmentorganisation that would want 500 Jetpacks a year, though in that deal the construction would be inthat country Lauder says.
It has also received 1600 individual inquiries for recreational use of the Jetpack at anestimated US$100,000 each. Government inquiries have tended to centre on search and rescue andborder patrol uses, while one use for the military requirement would be to forward supply troopswith a remote controlled Jetpack capable of carrying up to 150kg of equipment up to 150km.
Lauder’s currently in discussions with financial advisers and brokers on the feasibility of anNZ IPO, which, if it takes place, would be in the second quarter of next year.
If there’s a god of good ideas, hopefully that deity’s kiwi friendly this time round!