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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Skylift Global

SKYLIFT GLOBAL

Skylift Global manufactures and provides heavy-lift UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to safely and efficiently deliver shipments of all types that weigh several hundred pounds. Skylift’s UAVs are preferred options for transport situations in which the use of helicopters is deemed too expensive and/or dangerous and the use of consumer drones is deemed too weak and unreliable.


Top flight (from top clockwise):
Robert Bartlett, Chief Engineer; Amir Emadi, CEO; Jesse Moore, CTO; Reza “Ray” Nemovi, Chief Innovator

President/CEO: Amir Emadi
Product/Service description:heavy-lifting aerial vehicles (drones)
Founded: July 2015
Expected launch: January 2017
Website: skyliftglobal.com
Location: 1855 First Avenue, Suite #103, San Diego, CA 92101
Quotable: “We can lift and carry heavy goods, supplies, and equipment with a drone. Ultimately, we will give every human the freedom to fly safely and reliably.” – Amir Emadi

Notable trends/ideas: “Similar to the role of cell phones as an essential lifeline in Africa, UAVs fill a void in transportation,
particularly in remote areas and Third World countries. The marketplace has lately begun to regard drones as more than mere toys or weaponry. Concurrently, delivery-centered businesses such as Amazon, UPS, Uber and Chipotle, to name a few, are committed to pursuing unique ways to reduce the time and cost of customer delivery.” – Amir Emadi

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Bios/backgrounds:

  • Amir Emadi (President/CEO) recently left a startup he helped build to $1m in revenue in less than a year. Amir has worked for 15 years in operations, marketing, and political advisory roles. While with the World Trade Center in San Diego, his focus was on the local ecosystem. He has since addressed policy and infrastructure voids in the Middle East and rural Africa.
  • Jesse Moore (Chief Technology Officer) previously managed a multi-billion-dollar IT infrastructure for a global Fortune 15 company. With several startups under his belt, he has exceptional talent in identifying new technology integrations that support Skylift’s long-term objectives.
  • Reza Nemovi (Chief Innovator) is the visionary and inspiration behind Skylift’s technology. He ranks as one of the best radio control pilots in the world, giving him a unique understanding of commercial UAV flight. (Please see in-depth profile below)
  • Robert Bartlett (Chief Engineer) brings a unique technical background that combines safety and high performance, giving life to Skylift vehicles. He previously researched and developed auto parts using advanced composite materials for endurance racing teams such as Nissan, Toyota, Porsche. He has also been in the machine and fabrication business for the last 16 years.

Triumph Over Tragedy: The Inspiration Behind Skylift Global
To celebrate his 27th birthday in 2000, Reza Nemovi took part in a Labor Day weekend skydiving event above Lake Elsinore. A professional, Olympic-caliber skydiver with over 500 jumps to his credit, he regularly competed against top military athletes and was in elite physical condition.
But something went terribly wrong.

After a 50-second aerobatic freefall, he deployed his parachute and began to descend to the drop zone (landing area). Upon his final approach, he went into his routine, high-speed dive — but quickly realized his parachute had a developed a hole between two of the cells.
Realizing he was in trouble, he executed emergency crash-landing protocol by tucking arms and legs in tight while putting on full breaks in hopes of slowing down enough to roll upon impact.

Unable to cushion his landing, Reza smashed into the ground at 40 mph, leaving him unable to move, paralyzed from the waist down.
He had shattered his tailbone, sacrum, broken his pelvis, destroyed his L4-L5 spinal segments and sustained damage to multiple areas of his spinal cord. The damage was so severe that a team of doctors opted to place him in an induced coma for almost a month, not believing he would survive.
Reza then underwent an 18-hour surgery with only a 10 percent chance of survival. After a month, he had survived but was told he’d never walk again. Since he was expected to be in a wheelchair forever, his physical therapist told him to only exercise his arms, which were muscular as ever – but not his legs.

But Reza was convinced that, somehow, he’d fully recover. He wouldn’t let anyone tell him otherwise.
Another month passed before his family was able to take him back home to Chicago. Although the physical therapy center there was unrivaled, Reza’s pain-ridden body had difficulty adjusting to the cold weather. Multiply “pins and needles” by a thousand and it’s scarcely possible to comprehend the pain he endured. But he went through his daily rehab regimen, no matter how excruciating the pain.
Muhammad Ali once said that he hated every minute of training. Yet he forced himself to be “The Greatest” with these words: “Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

That became Reza’s mindset. By the time he returned to his hospital in California six months later, he was miraculously able to show that he was
already gaining some movement in his lower extremities. Over the next few years, with the help of a walker, he was able to take his first tentative steps.
Another four years passed before Reza finally rid himself of a wheelchair. During that time, over months of painful, sleepless nights, he found solace in his love for the sky and his background as an outstanding auto mechanic. Together, those passions led him to a new hobby – building remote-controlled planes and helicopters.

Over the next 10 years, Reza went on to become a world-class RC pilot and led the conversion from gas to electric-powered RC helicopters. He even helped with the development of the “flying dress” drone named Volantis that famously flew Lady Gaga around in a 2013 demo.
Indeed, in many ways, he has led the way to what we now know as the modern-day drone.

Skeptics told our Skylift Global team that we would never be able to build the vehicle we sought – that it defies the laws of physics. But with Reza’s story as our inspiration, we’re certain we have the collective will to succeed as champions.

Contact info:

  • Amir Emadi (President/CEO) recently left a startup he helped build to $1m in revenue in less than a year. Amir has worked for 15 years in operations, marketing, and political advisory roles. While with the World Trade Center in San Diego, his focus was on the local ecosystem. He has since addressed policy and infrastructure voids in the Middle East and rural Africa.
  • Jesse Moore (Chief Technology Officer) previously managed a multi-billion-dollar IT infrastructure for a global Fortune 15 company. With several startups under his belt, he has exceptional talent in identifying new technology integrations that support Skylift’s long-term objectives.
  • amir.emadi@skyliftglobal.com
  • 844-475-9543 ext. 701

SKYLIFT GLOBAL IS LOCATED WITHIN NEST AT X-HIVE, THE DISTINCTIVE COWORK SPACE AT 1855 FIRST AVENUE, SUITE 201, SAN DIEGO, CA 92103.

To inquire about available space, contact Darin Andersen:

  • darin@cyberhivesandiego.org
  • 619-341-4036