Echodyne is receiving minority investment from Supernal as part of a partnership aimed at enhancing safety in Supernal’s aerial vehicle and across ground-based operations. (Supernal Illustration)

Kirkland, Wash.-based Echodyne, a next-generation radar platform company backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has forged a partnership with Supernal to enhance the safety of that company’s air mobility system.

Supernal, a Washington, D.C.-based subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, says it’s making a minority investment in Echodyne as part of the deal — but the amount of the investment was not immediately disclosed.

The newly announced strategic agreement adds to Supernal’s collaborations with Microsoft, BAE Systems, Honeywell and other companies on an air transport system that could go into service by as early as 2028.

Supernal is developing an electric-powered, vertical-takeoff-and-landing air vehicle, also known as an eVTOL, along with the ground-based systems required to support short-range, taxi-style flights. For example, the company’s website suggests that its eVTOL could carry passengers between Seattle and Tacoma in 25 minutes.

The precise timetable for commercial operations is likely to depend not only on technological developments, but also on the Federal Aviation Administration’s establishment of a regulatory system for advanced air mobility.

Under the terms of the partnership, Echodyne’s radar system could be used for in-flight situational awareness as well as for ground-based tracking installations around vertiports and flight corridors.

“Supernal is reimagining airborne mobility with the same ‘safety above all’ mentality we have here at Echodyne,” Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg said in a news release.

Ben Diachun, Supernal’s chief technology officer, said “Echodyne offers unique radar-based detection capabilities that Supernal can utilize in Advanced Air Mobility development.”

Founded in 2014, Echodyne is one of several spinouts from Bellevue, Wash.-based Intellectual Ventures that make use of metamaterials technology. The technology makes it possible for Echodyne to build a flat-panel antenna that can be “steered” without moving parts.

Last year, the company raised $135 million in a funding round co-led by Gates and Baillie Gifford, a high-profile investment management firm based in Scotland. That round brought total investment in the venture to $195 million.

In an emailed statement, Echodyne shied away from saying how much Supernal was investing — but indicated that the amount doesn’t match what Gates has put in.

“We are very pleased to include Supernal as a minority investor, whose investment vision is driven by unlocking the lower airspace for safe and efficient transportation,” Echodyne told GeekWire. “Radar plays an essential role in both onboard and ground-based systems that create the safest flying environment for cross-town hops or quick inter-city trips. Our overall makeup remains largely unchanged from previous events, with Bill Gates, NEA and Madrona being our largest investors.”

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