XTI Aerospace partners with IDEO to enhance aircraft design experience

DENVER - XTI Aerospace (NASDAQ:XTIA), a small-cap aerospace company with a market capitalization of $40 million, has formed a strategic partnership with design firm IDEO to develop customer-focused aircraft solutions, according to a press release issued Thursday. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company currently shows a weak financial health score, though it maintains more cash than debt on its balance sheet.

The collaboration will focus on enhancing the development of XTI’s TriFan 600 aircraft and establishing a foundation for future vertical takeoff and landing (xVTOL) aircraft. IDEO will work with XTI on multiple phases to create what the company describes as a human-centered ecosystem. This development comes as InvestingPro data shows the company is rapidly burning through cash, with analysts projecting a sales decline in the current year.

The partnership scope includes market research, product validation, and design elements spanning aircraft interiors, user interfaces, and service models. The companies will apply ethnographic research and prototyping to shape both function and user experience.

"Our vision has always been bold, but now we’re backing it with the discipline of world-class customer insight and design thinking," said Scott Pomeroy, CEO of XTI Aerospace.

Heather Boesch, Partner at IDEO, is leading the account with support from the firm’s Transportation and Mobility team. The engagement has begun with customer research and co-creation workshops aimed at clarifying product-market fit across different user segments.

XTI’s TriFan 600 is described as a fixed-wing business aircraft designed with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, maximum cruising speeds exceeding 300 mph, and a range up to 1,000 miles.

The collaboration will also involve refinement of aircraft aesthetics, cabin environment design, trade show strategy, digital experience improvement, and customer journey design.

XTI Aerospace, based near Denver, Colorado, is the parent company of XTI Aircraft Company and also operates Inpixon, a business unit focused on real-time location systems technology. The company will report its next earnings on August 14, with analysts maintaining cautious expectations. For deeper insights into XTI’s financial metrics and 14 additional ProTips, consider exploring InvestingPro.

In other recent news, XTI Aerospace, Inc. has completed a significant step in the certification process for its TriFan 600 Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft by finishing a technical familiarization meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This meeting focused on the aircraft’s system design and expected flight performance. Additionally, XTI Aerospace has completed a propulsion systems review with the FAA, further progressing toward certification. In financial developments, the company successfully closed the full exercise of the over-allotment option from its public offering, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $18.4 million. This offering involved the sale of 10,514,000 shares of common stock, including pre-funded warrants. Furthermore, XTI Aerospace resolved a legal dispute with Chardan Capital Markets without any payments, following a court ruling in favor of XTI Aerospace. These recent developments highlight XTI Aerospace’s ongoing efforts in both its financial and operational endeavors.

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