XTI upping share-offering price
Macro of Alexnader Hamilton portrait on the U.S. ten dollar bill.
XTI Aircraft is planning to increase the price at which it is offering new shares by 50%. The Vtol start-up is preparing to submit papers to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase the offering price of its shares from $1 to at least $1.50 once SEC approval has been granted. The date of the new public offering as yet to be decided and announced by the company.
The company – headed by former CEO of AgustaWestland Robert LaBelle – is currently offering a total of 20 million new common shares at $1 each through online investment service Startengine. XTI will terminate this offering on 30 April 2018 and will launch a new offering at $1.50 per share at an as-yet unspecified date. In total, XTI currently has 36,428,839 shares issued and outstanding – with 100,000,000 shares authorised as of June last year.
Thus far, XTI has netted 60 preliminary option orders for its prototype Vtol – priced at $6.5 million each for a total prospective sales revenue of $390 million – and is projecting that the number will increase significantly.
Until April 30 the current $1 share offer price will remain the same both for ‘accredited investors’ (described as investors with a net worth of more than $1 million) as well as the public crowdfunding until the new filing is authorised and approved by the SEC.
Ahead of the March 13 filing, Mr LaBelle said: “Until the time we submit the filing to the SEC. XTI will continue to sell its shares for $1.00 on StartEngine.com and for $1.00 to accredited investors. So right now is likely to be the last chance for people to buy shares in XTI at the lowest price possible.”
The start-up offered its first common shares in 2016 under SEC Regulation A+ and simultaneously launched a $25 million private placement for accredited investors.
XTI’s niche
Whilst most Vtol start-ups right now are looking at the air-taxi market, XTI is looking towards private and corporate customers – focusing on providing a “business jet experience” with a lower cost-to-entry.
The XTI Vtol is is being marketed at $6.5 million per aircraft and is expecting the first ones to enter service in late 2022/early 2023. One niche XTI is looking towards is the yacht market. The TriFan 600 has a smaller footprint than most helicopters so will be capable of touching down a great many more superyacht landing areas than existing, larger helicopters. The TriFan 600 is being designed to carry five passengers and the pilot.
Yacht owners are becoming increasingly interested in buying a helicopter to travel quickly between their vessels and land. Whilst a lot of designers are fitting landing areas on larger-scale yachts, a lot of these landing areas are not equipped to fully service most helicopters currently on the market and are only large enough to support smaller single-engine aircraft.
XTI showcased the Vtol at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in November last year and received a lot of interest in the product. “Owners and builders of yachts with landing pads, as well as this entire community, have embraced the TriFan,” LaBelle said after Fort Lauderdale.
