Tim Draper. Photo credit: Seb Daly/Web Summit via Sportsfile, under Creative Commons license

Zephyr Aerospace, a San Francisco-based startup that’s introducing a new type of seat for airlines, has announced it’s raised funding from prominent venture capitalist Tim Draper. The amount of funding Draper provided isn’t being disclosed but Zephyr says it’ll enable it to pass the rigorous certification process usually set for the introduction of new products by the U.S. Federal Aviation Association (FAA), and also pursue deals with prospective airlines and aircraft manufacturers. Currently, Zephyr happens to be crowdfunding its operations, with Draper’s investment being the first outside funding the company has secured.

Zephyr is working on a new type of lie-flat “double-decker” seating concept for airline travelers, particularly economy class passengers. The idea behind Zephyr’s work is transforming the seats in economy class seatings on wide-body aircraft into lie-flat beds that’ll be more comfortable. The concept is also aimed at improving social distancing in-flight on the heels of a coronavirus pandemic. To get a better idea, take a look at the embedded video below;

Although still in the idea phase and seemingly ambitious, Zephyr seems keen on pursuing its work to fruition and there’s apparently two main hurdles to that, the first being gaining approval from the FAA and the second being convincing airlines and airplane manufacturers to adopt its new type of seats. That may not be easy for such a company but one can wait to see what the future holds. As for now, Zephyr is seemingly a moonshot and an interesting concept.