Waves Technologies

Idea

Introduction

Waves is an on-demand air taxi service that uses big data and intelligent technology to provide affordable and accessible point-to-point air travel for everyone.

The Waves service allows travelers to order an aircraft and check in securely on their flights via their own app. The flights cost as little as £55 and make use of existing hangarage space at airfields, providing the convenience of private charter without the expense.

Waves’ team of experts in aviation, finance, technology and business growth have created the formula for an air taxi service with real customer value, travel security and company profitability.

Flights will run initially between the Channel Islands and mainland UK, and we plan to offer further flights running to Europe including South of France, Spain and Italy in 2018.

Intended impact

Waves has taken the standard aviation model, dissected it, and created a very different air taxi service that will eliminate the pain points of scheduled airline travel:

Cost: Flight costs are kept low via technology, economical turboprop aircraft and use of private hangarages at airfields. There is fixed pricing on all services, no charges to change booking, and baggage allowances are less restricted.

Time: Waves’ use of private hangarages enable passengers to reduce waiting times in airport facilities. Aiming to reduce passenger waiting times from over 1 hour to less than 20 minutes.

Flexibility: Travellers can order flights to fit their schedule and desired location.

Locations: Waves will facilitate domestic, European and international journeys, connecting travellers to their destination’s closest airport.

Tech: Waves’ technology has the potential to be licensed to other carriers in order to improve their service offering. It includes a customer app and booking engine, Know Your Customer (KYC) security, and learning technology - all the protected IP of Waves.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Waves have built an airline from the ground up in 6 months. The company has grown rapidly from just 3 employees in Feb 2017 to 26 experienced team members, a few of which have experience in UK aviation companies.

● Successful initial £500,000 invested in seed round
● Secured two aircraft worth in excess of £5M and building a fully operational structure making us ready to launch into Channel Islands market.
● Achieved an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). This is an industry standard certification, which every airline globally must adhere to if they are to carry fee-paying customers, ensuring they have personnel, assets, and systems in place to ensure the safety of its employees and the travelling public.
● We are currently receiving around 20 private charter requests daily
● Waves have been featured in the Mail Online, Guernsey Press, Flyer, and other industry press.
● The standard of technology means Waves is in initial conversations with US air taxi services, a UK national carrier, and Indonesian air taxi providers.

Monetisation strategy

We believe that the proprietary technology that Waves are creating will add value throughout the aviation industry, from global airlines to local air charter services. It enables us to offer fixed pricing, efficiency of aircraft and departures, and seamless security on a customer management level. We are identifying the problems with these processes and are demonstrably improving them.

Waves have a cross-section of revenue sources:
• Selling tickets per seat/aircraft
• Acquiring locations and building our network with the intention of operating profitably within new territories
• Long-term, we believe that the real value of our company will lie in the licensing of our technology learning and efficiencies across the aviation industry, the data analytics attached to passenger movement and applying these findings to global air travel.

Use of proceeds

The Seedrs fundraise is a part of the equity raise Waves is undertaking. All of our fundraising is to fund the working capital for the business, to grow in our existing network into further jurisdictions and build and improve our proprietary technology systems. This includes:

• Staffing costs and recruitment - primarily the recruitment of more pilots to service the destinations we are offering and will be able to offer to the customer.
• Technology development and maintenance - our proprietary technology is central to our operations. Funding will enable our tech team to continually improve and optimise our technology, and also fund legalities of a licensing framework to enable the licensing of IP to others.