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The total amount of this round is 26 Million, so Boing has maybe invested 10 Million or maybe even less. That's 10% of the money the engine company raised in t

The total amount of this round is 26 Million, so Boing has maybe invested 10 Million or maybe even less. That's 10% of the money the engine company raised in the previous years. If a company as big as Boing really believed into the technology, wouldn't they have invested more? My feeling is that this is more of a marketing/ stock value symbiosis than an actual commitment.

sschueller 9y ago
Maybe it's just a foot in the door until they are sure it's viable and the project doesn't die from lack of any funding.
akhatri_aus 9y ago
Making a new engine technology takes a long time. The jet engine took decades before its reliably seen for consumer use. It's likely there are still a couple more funding rounds down the road. Why put in a large amount when you could wait for it and still hedge yourself in the meantime.
- grondilu 9y ago
  > The jet engine took decades before its reliably seen for consumer use. Wasn't the jet engine developed under very different circumstances? Like, with much lower computing power for CFD analysis, no CAD software and stuff? Also, you're talking about consumer use but RE hasn't even built a full prototype and doesn't plan to test one (on the ground) before 2025. Edit. 2020 instead of 2025, my bad. I may have read 2025 in a different article, possibly about the first test flight.
  - kitd 9y ago
    Article says 2020
  - le-mark 9y ago
    There's a lot of art in the production of truly high tech engines. See for example China's difficulty creating a single crystal turbine blades for a turbo fan to use in it's J20 stealth fighter. They can of course use a lesser engine, but the capability of the fighter will be much less than its contemporaries. Boeing is most likely buying access to the this art.
EliRivers 9y ago
If a company as big as Boing really believed into the technology, wouldn't they have invested more? How? I suspect (but cannot prove) that the company doesn't need any more money right now. They've got 160 employees and their research programme is (I understand, but cannot prove) fully funded. stock value symbiosis Which stock value is that?
onion2k 9y ago
If a company as big as Boing really believed into the technology, wouldn't they have invested more? There are examples of companies that raised too much money, thought they could do everything they could imagine, and then lost focus and things went very badly. Mark Suster wrote a decent blog post about it - https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-raising-too-much-money-can-harm-your-startup-5adc112e1259 https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-raising-too-much-money-c...
andygates 9y ago
They're working as fast as they can - test site coming up, full demonstrator coming next. A pile of cash isn't needed at this time. There's not a lot of parallel stuff to do or kit to build.
nabla9 9y ago
They give enough for research to continue and keep the project alive. They might have have contract where they commit more investments after some R&D goals are met.

sschueller 9y ago

Maybe it's just a foot in the door until they are sure it's viable and the project doesn't die from lack of any funding.

akhatri_aus 9y ago

Making a new engine technology takes a long time. The jet engine took decades before its reliably seen for consumer use. It's likely there are still a couple more funding rounds down the road. Why put in a large amount when you could wait for it and still hedge yourself in the meantime.

grondilu 9y ago
> The jet engine took decades before its reliably seen for consumer use. Wasn't the jet engine developed under very different circumstances? Like, with much lower computing power for CFD analysis, no CAD software and stuff? Also, you're talking about consumer use but RE hasn't even built a full prototype and doesn't plan to test one (on the ground) before 2025. Edit. 2020 instead of 2025, my bad. I may have read 2025 in a different article, possibly about the first test flight.
- kitd 9y ago
  Article says 2020
- le-mark 9y ago
  There's a lot of art in the production of truly high tech engines. See for example China's difficulty creating a single crystal turbine blades for a turbo fan to use in it's J20 stealth fighter. They can of course use a lesser engine, but the capability of the fighter will be much less than its contemporaries. Boeing is most likely buying access to the this art.

EliRivers 9y ago

If a company as big as Boing really believed into the technology, wouldn't they have invested more? How? I suspect (but cannot prove) that the company doesn't need any more money right now. They've got 160 employees and their research programme is (I understand, but cannot prove) fully funded. stock value symbiosis Which stock value is that?

onion2k 9y ago

If a company as big as Boing really believed into the technology, wouldn't they have invested more? There are examples of companies that raised too much money, thought they could do everything they could imagine, and then lost focus and things went very badly. Mark Suster wrote a decent blog post about it - https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-raising-too-much-money-can-harm-your-startup-5adc112e1259 https://bothsidesofthetable.com/why-raising-too-much-money-c...

andygates 9y ago

They're working as fast as they can - test site coming up, full demonstrator coming next. A pile of cash isn't needed at this time. There's not a lot of parallel stuff to do or kit to build.

nabla9 9y ago

They give enough for research to continue and keep the project alive. They might have have contract where they commit more investments after some R&D goals are met.