Workhorse Group, maker of the W-15 plug-in pickup and truck-deployed HorseFly delivery drones, will be flying its SureFly personal flying machine for the first time at CES 2018 in Las Vegas on Jan. 8. Ahead of that debut, the company has also announced it will spin off SureFly as its own business.
SureFly, Inc. will take over Workhorse’s aerial technology, but Workhorse will still retain the assets to its HorseFly delivery drone. The new business is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Workhorse. Workhorse intends to keep some SureFly stock for itself, while distributing some to current Workhorse shareholders, as well as bringing in new capital from third-party investors. SureFly, Inc. has a pre-money valuation of $ 33 million, Workhorse says.
“This agreement provides Workhorse with additional capital to bolster our balance sheet and, once the spin off is complete, will enable us to focus all of our resources on our core automotive business,” said Workhorse CEO Steve Burns. “SureFly has been one of the most exciting products we’ve ever developed and reflects the best representation of the versatility of our innovative platform technologies.”
The Surefly is a manned, personal helicopter with a flying range of about 70 miles. Future models will use autonomous technology. Read more about the SureFly in our earlier interview with Workhorse CEO Steve Burns.
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