Swyft Cities

Throughout the nineteenth century, railroads played a pivotal role in the development of the United States. And their introduction changed transportation forever.

Now imagine a railroad-like way to travel — in the sky. That’s the vision a startup called Swyft Cities has for the future of transportation.

This company is creating an aerial transportation system, similar to how skyrails and ski lifts transport passengers off the ground and through the air to their destination. This system, which Swyft calls “Whoosh,” may soon be used in everything from real-estate developments to major cities, enabling people to quickly and comfortably fly over traffic and pedestrians to get where they need to go.

For reference, this is what’s known as a “moonshot” — an idea that is highly risky due to things like cost and time, but has the potential to become a world-changing innovation. Just like railroads changed the way we travel, Swyft Cities’ system could, too.

This is an idea that spun out from Google. And now Swyft Cities is spearheading its creation. But why create such a radically-new way to travel?

For one reason, traffic is getting worse. For another, most mass transit options aren’t ideal. They’re inconvenient, unsafe, or simply unavailable.

Then there’s the continuous growth of urban areas. By 2050, two-and-a-half billion people will live in cities. New solutions are needed so people can easily get to their destination quickly, conveniently, and sustainably.

As mentioned, this could be a major shift in transportation. And there’s more than a trillion dollars of market potential with this idea.

On a smaller scale, Swyft’s Whoosh systems could be used for things like tourist attractions or sprawling neighborhoods. Public and government applications could include colleges, airports, hospitals, and cities.

Swyft has demonstrated its technology with two prototypes. And its first pilot project is underway in New Zealand. The company will soon break ground at a large real-estate development.

Swyft’s hardware partner has patents on the first cable system that’s switchable at speed. And Swyft’s own software will soon be patent-protected.

Meanwhile, Swyft is in discussions with Dallas, Texas for the first U.S. pilot system, as well as more than a dozen projects worldwide. Its total customer pipeline is valued at more than $150 million.

Team Background

Jeral Poskey - Co-Founder & CEO

Prior to starting Swyft Cities, Jeral spent fifteen years with Google, managing its consumer-operations department as well as working as a project executive in the company’s transportation planning and real-estate development division. It was in this latter role that he planned more than $300 million in transportation infrastructure that generated return-on-investment for real-estate growth.

Before that, he was a network administrator with film companies Danka and Kodak. And he began his career as a congressional aide in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

Jeral earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from Stanford.

Clay Griggs - Co-Founder

Clay specializes in transportation planning and infrastructure delivery. Throughout his career, he’s managed construction projects for clients ranging from Google to the San Francisco International Airport.

Most recently, he spent seven years with CBRE, a commercial-real-estate firm, as a project manager. Before that, he was a project engineer with The Allen Group, a construction-management firm.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford.

Catrine Machi - Co-Founder

Catrine is a former transportation-planning manager and mobility consultant.

She began her career working at the Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office. From there, she was an urban planner, before becoming Lead Planner with the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

After that, she was a senior planner with KTUA, an architecture and planning company, working for its mobility team. She then spent six years with Alta Planning & Design, another architecture company, working as an active transportation program manager.

In addition to her role with Swyft, Catrine owns Machi Mobility Consulting, a consulting business focused on transportation and logistics.

She earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Geography, as well as a Master’s degree in Urban Planning, from the University of Wisconsin.

Co-Investors