15/08/2022
After a long gestation period we have finally completed all the administrative items for the ASST pitch and got Form C completed and signed and the pitch is now live, link below if anyone would like to contribute or view the pitch.
https://lnkd.in/eS2gcGpf
This is extremely well-timed as I am visiting the US on the 21st to 27th August to participate in the long-delayed Pentagon/DARPA Technology Discovery event being held near Washington, and then visiting the US Army Ground Vehicle Survivability Centre (GVSC) near Detroit. We have an ongoing discussion with the key people in GVSC about potential new technology developments and the continuation of the CRADA (Cooperative R&D Agreement) we have with them for the main VGAM technology development.
In this context there has been a very interesting and timely development regarding Taiwan, which could become a driver for the US Army adopting our VGAM technology. I will not go into details but the fact that they are wargaming scenarios for physical involvement in a China/Taiwan conflict does tally with what we know of US Army concerns re IED's in urban environments where sewers and other ducts under the roads make emplacing explosives very simple.
We think that the reason the US might have to get involved at any cost is that Taiwan makes about 70% of the world supply of computer chips. The threat of the Chinese controlling that supply and embedding back doors and potential self-destruct code into the software of critical chips, with potential activation at will by internet or 4/5G connections is surely something that the Free World could not contemplate, so you can see the potential pressure to act in case of a Chinese military threat to occupy Taiwan.
https://lnkd.in/e-YBdGGr
There are several other current developments more focussed on the eVTOL safety system technology, which we will update separately very shortly.
Also of interest, we had meetings this week with two VC organisations, and we think we came close to a substantial investment with one of them, a US fund which appears to be happy to invest in pre-revenue technically based startups in the defence or eVTOL space. Whilst we did not get an investment from them this time, they have asked to keep in touch as they have made several investments second time around. T
The other VC contact will more likely just be wanting to try to raise funding for us for a fee, but they do sometimes invest directly as well, that discussion continues.
It's a pessimistic, but realistic, 2026 war game scenario.
