Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures invests in Jump Aero

Jump Aero has received an undisclosed investment from the North Bay’s first regional venture capital fund, Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures. 

Launched in 2021, the fund invests in startups in the Marin and Sonoma regions of California. North Bay native Carl Dietrich founded Jump Aero in 2019, building on his experience as an MIT-trained aerospace engineer who previously founded and ran flying-car startup company Terrafugia until 2019. Jump’s goal is to cut rural emergency response time in half.

Dietrich said: “I had spent my entire career in the advanced air mobility space, looking at the technology as well as the business opportunities, and I came to realize that eVTOL technology was extremely well-suited to a use case that nobody was looking at – first response.”

With medical emergencies, every second matters, and Jump wants to level the playing field for rural Americans who are subject to slower response times from ground ambulances.

This promise has been recognised by first-response specialists from around the world such as Falck pre-ordering Jump aircraft for their operations. Also, the US Air Force has been supporting JA’s efforts over the past few years, having awarded multiple AFWERX contracts to develop its technology.

“So much about all electric vertical takeoff and landing [eVTOL] aircraft is well-known – it has the potential be green, quiet, and have low operating costs – but what is less talked about is there is this ability for these vehicles to go from zero to full power in a snap, which you cannot do with a traditional thermal engine. This was the impetus behind Jump Aero – to harness that rapid deployment capability to save lives via faster first response,” Dietrich added.