REGENT Craft

REGENT is building the Seaglider: an all-electric Wing-in-Ground (WIG) vehicle for high-speed, low-noise, low-cost maritime mobility. The Seaglider is a next generation mobility platform that is highly versatile and increases Coast Guard mobility capabilities. Seagliders have the potential to support Maritime communications and logistics, as well as strategic initiatives and interoperability. WIGs have been proposed and developed for DoD missions before but have not been viable for several reasons: (1) Poor wave tolerance: Previous WIGs were flying boats that had to take off from their hulls. Smaller WIGs (<12 passengers) could not take off or land in waves greater than 2 ft, meaning they could not be relied upon for mission-critical support, (2) Poor maneuverability: Previous WIGs required long takeoff runs (far longer than seaplanes) during which they could not avoid obstacles or maritime traffic, making it challenging to navigate crowded harbors or narrow rivers, (3) Poor safety record: Ground-effect is an unstable aerodynamic regime causing previous human flown WIGs to be marred by frequent crashes. Interviews of WIG pilots have yielded that pilot workload was so high that they were “unable” to be flown manually for longer than 30 minutes. REGENT's seaglider solves these problems. Seagliders fly within a half-wingspan of the water's surface in an aerodynamic regime called "ground effect". They take off on hydrofoils which retract for flight and stay retracted for landings, giving them superior wave tolerance compared to previous WIGs. Seagliders have double the range of electric aircraft due to the aerodynamic efficiency boost of ground-effect and the reduced requirement for reserve fuel that comes with seagliders' water landing capability. The technology risk of REGENT’s seaglider development is inherently low, as all major components – the propulsion systems, sensors, hydrofoil technology, and blown-wing technology - are TRL 9. Combined with an experienced and proven team, strong VC backing, and the ability to cost share, REGENT offers a compelling product with complimentary markets in defense and commercial, which quickly scales success and maximizes investment returns. Like the seagliders themselves, REGENT’s team combines the best of the aerospace and maritime sectors. Our engineers bring decades of experience across electric aircraft/eVTOLs, spacecraft, and hydrofoil yacht racing, and. We converged on seaglider technology with our shared vision of carbon-free, high-speed, long-range, affordable regional transportation, and our venture investors have echoed our confidence in the form of a $9M seed round led by Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital (lead investor of Boom Supersonic), and Mark Cuban.