‘Kitty Hawk Challenge’ Seeks Aviation Start-Ups

Challenges in the field of flight safety, ground and flight operations enhancements, aircraft health monitoring, aircraft operating conditions, UAV operations and anti-UAV systems are the focus of a new partnership that is offering funding to start-up companies.  The goal is to help companies gain financial footing post-COVID-19 pandemic as they develop new commercial applications that rely on ADS-B data. 

The partnership is between AirNav Systems and BrightCap Ventures.  AirNav Systems is a global flight tracking and monitoring company based in Tampa, Florida. BrightCap Ventures is an early-stage, tech-focused venture capital fund registered in the Netherlands.

Called the “Kitty Hawk Challenge,” the partnership aims to identify start-ups worldwide via a rigorous selection process that includes an in-depth review of each potential company to launch a new funding program for start-up ventures anxious to leverage ADS-B data and technology solutions.

Selected startups will receive up to $218,000 equity funding from BrightCap Ventures.  In addition to the capital and mentoring/oversight of BrightCap, these startups will also be given the opportunity to collaborate with AirNav Systems LLC to utilize the company’s available historical and real-time tracking data to best develop the technology solutions that exhibit both engineering maturity and go-to-market capabilities.