There’s nothing like being stuffed into a tin can for eight hours to make you think about the future.
The tin can I’m referring to is a United flight I took from LA to NYC.
The trip should have taken about five hours. But after take-off was delayed because of a faulty baggage latch, and de-boarding was delayed because the cabin door wouldn’t open, it added up to eight hours of my life I’ll never get back.
My first thought? I’ll never fly again on Thanksgiving weekend.
My second thought? There’s got to be a better way!
So today, I’d like to share three better ways that I discovered — and three ways to potentially make 10x your money on each one.
FAM — a Potential $1.5 Trillion Market
Over the past five years or so, there’s been an explosion of interest in what’s called Future Air Mobility, or FAM for short.
At the moment, the market is largely comprised of drones for things like photography and recreation. And according to Fortune Business Insights, this adds up to a market that’s worth $8.1 billion.
But Morgan Stanley believes we’re just getting started…
Driven by real-world innovations like Flying Cars and Cargo Drones (see the images below), Morgan believes the market could reach $1.5 trillion by 2040. Even a “conservative” forecast from NEXA Advisors puts the future value of the market at $318 billion.
Some of the companies behind these innovations are well-known aerospace enterprises. But according to global consultant McKinsey, more than 500 of them are new — in other words, they’re startups.
For an easy-to-understand visual representation of this burst of activity, check out this chart from McKinsey. It shows funding for FAM deals by professional investors through 2021:
As you can see, FAM funding is up, up, up. It’s soaring.
Furthermore, it’s not just “funding the future” that’s taken off. Real money in this arena is already changing hands.
For example, in 2021, orders for FAM aircraft reached 6,850 units, worth more than $26 billion. And five companies – Blade Air Mobility, Joby Aviation, Lilium, Archer Aviation, and Vertical Aerospace — went public, with a combined market cap of $10.7 billion.
These public companies have helped increase awareness of FAM. In fact, in a 2021 McKinsey survey of 4,800 consumers, approximately 25% said they would “definitely” switch to a FAM aircraft for everything from business travel to errands around town.
And meanwhile, when companies go public and create wealth for their insiders, those insiders often turn into “angel investors” who invest in new startups in their sector.
But nowadays, you don’t need to be an insider to invest in high-potential FAM startups…
Introducing: Three FAM Startups
Here are three FAM startups that anyone can invest in, regardless of their salary, income, or “insider” status:
Lift Aircraft — Lift is aiming to create a future where anyone can fly. LIFT’s “drone for people” can be piloted by anyone. As the company says, it’s “making the joy and utility of zero-emissions, personal, vertical flight accessible to all.”
After 4 years of development, 1,000+ test flights, and $18 million in funding, Lift’s eVTOL aircraft, HEXA, has entered production and has been approved to fly. Lift estimates the value of its target market at $1 trillion.
blueflite — More than 130 billion packages get delivered globally each year, and that figure is expected to double by 2025. This is causing severe challenges in the logistics industry related to cost, delivery times, and environmental impact.
Enter blueflite, with its patented delivery drones, proprietary logistics software, and intelligent in-flight control algorithm. Essentially, blueflite is aiming to create a future where drones enable sustainable-logistics that are safer and more cost effective.
The current market for this technology is already worth $8.5 billion. But Morgan Stanley and McKinsey believe the cargo-drone delivery sector is soon expected to soar.
Jet Token — Sure, flying “private” might be too expensive for most folks to do personally. But now it’s not too expensive to invest in! Jet Token is aiming to revolutionize the $200 billion private-jet industry by empowering travelers to book an aircraft from the palm of their hands.
Its booking platform displays options for thousands of aircraft for hire. Before Jet Token, owning an aircraft, booking private flights, and connecting private flights with commercial flights — all on the same itinerary, in a single mobile app — had never been possible.
But Remember…
Keep in mind:
I’m not recommending you blindly invest in these three FAM startups. These are early-stage ventures, so you need to do substantial research before making an investment decision.
And the fact is, the surest way to make 10x your money on an early-stage investment — that’s our target for all of our startup investments — is to do substantial research.
But if you believe in the FAM mega-trend, like McKinsey and Morgan Stanley do, these three startups could be a great place to begin your search.
Happy Investing
Please note: Crowdability has no relationship with any of the startups we write about. We’re an independent provider of education and research on startups and alternative investments.
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
