The Japanese maker of a “Star Wars”-inspired flying motorbike will be listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq as early as Friday, according to a report.
ALI Technologies, the maker of the Xturismo hover bike, is in the process of merging with Pono Capital Corp., a blank-check firm, for the purpose of going public, Bloomberg News reported.
The 660-pound electric bike is 12 feet in length and can carry a passenger weighing up to 220 pounds. The bike has a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour with a range of 40 miles.
Last October, former New York Mets outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo soared in a prototype across a baseball field — at heights reaching some 20 feet — before the start of game in Hokkaido, Japan, where he manages a team in the country’s baseball league.
The first hover bike was sold for $555,000 in Japan last December.
However, riders will not be able to mount the high-tech vehicle to beat congestion in traffic-clogged cities like Tokyo or New York, where laws prohibit their use over roads.
ALI Technologies, founded by former Merrill Lynch trader Shuhei Komatsu in 2016, initially manufactured drones. It then expanded its business to create hover bikes, inspired by the speeders used by Luke Skywalker and others in the “Star Wars” movies.
A company representative told Bloomberg that talks between ALI Technologies and a blank-check firm, known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), are ongoing, though no details were provided.
The merged company will be fully owned by Aerwins Technologies, which is the US division of Tokyo-based ALI Technologies, according to Bloomberg News.
When it begins trading on Wall Street, the company will have a market capitalization of $600 million.
ALI Technologies initially explored the possibility of being listed in Japan, but was deterred by the lengthy registration process. Instead, it opted to be listed on the Nasdaq.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
