Meet the Teams: MOSTAVIO

The legendary entrepreneur, inventor and founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs, famously said: "The only way to do great work is to love what you do." 

It’s as if Jobs was speaking directly to Nima Pourmostaghimi when he offered his thoughts on how to identify one’s life mission, embrace the unknowns of that mission, learn and grow from any mistakes along the way, and overcome any obstacles to achieving the mission’s goal. 

Indeed, Nima decided as a child that he was going to take his fascination for anything electronic and mechanical and apply this passion to revolutionize the transportation industry. 

Decades later, the 41-year-old native of Iran is well on his way to actualizing his vision. He is the founder of MOSTAVIO, a Toronto-based company at the forefront of urban transportation innovation. What he originally envisioned would be a focus on auto manufacturing, however, has evolved – not once, but several times. 

First, the company concentrated on electric cars but given that Toronto, like all big cities around the world, has significant traffic issues, MOSTAVIO made its first big pivot. “We had the idea to focus on a new transportation option, one that would be more challenging but also more futuristic and more long-term,” Nima explains. This option became personal air travel, “making it safer, faster, and more efficient using eVTOL – electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing – technology.”  

While personal air travel remains MOSTAVIO’s long-term plan, the team also began looking at other ways to apply its expertise in cutting-edge, eco-friendly aerial transportation. This search led them to embark on another journey of innovation: GoAERO, the global challenge to develop a new class of emergency response vehicles – flyers that are more effective, efficient, and physically and financially accessible than helicopters, drones, and ambulances during extreme weather catastrophes, man-made disasters, and medical emergencies when every second counts. 

“We see GoAERO as a compelling and aligned application of our technology,” Nima says. “Emergency response represents an opportunity to apply our aerial mobility platform to a critical, real-world need—without stepping away from our broader vision.”

This strategy has already paid off. MOSTAVIO is one of 11 teams recently named a winner of GoAERO’s Stage 1, which focused on flyer designs. “More than the financial reward, the Stage 1 Prize reinforces our confidence that we can be a top player in the industry,” Nima says. “It fuels our drive and keeps us excited to push forward in building the full-scale version of our flyer. It also provides a valuable opportunity to showcase our work, gain exposure, and highlight the potential applications of our technology.”

MOSTAVIO’s innovation is embodied in AeroGuardian, their approach to modern emergency response aviation. The primary goal of the AeroGuardian is to be a compact, autonomy-enabled rescue aircraft that is safe, simple to operate, easy to mobilize, and capable of performing critical tasks under adverse conditions.

Dr. Younes Sadat-Nejad, the 30-year-old chief technology officer and chief operating officer of MOSTAVIO who recently completed his Ph.D. explains the evolution of their focus: “As the technology in terms of batteries, motor propulsion systems, and other aspects has improved over the past few years, eVTOL aircraft have become much more feasible solutions. So, in thinking about what could be the main application and where we could provide the most benefit with our expertise, emergency response and humanitarian factors emerged as the clear priority.”  

To pursue this direction the team began exploring the necessary design elements for an eVTOL specifically focused on emergency response. “The challenges would be much bigger because of the specific conditions, applications, and requirements that we previously had not considered,” Younes acknowledges. “But we realize the impact we can deliver is significantly greater. That’s when emergency response became the primary application of our technology.”

MOSTAVIO’s end goal for its AeroGuardian flyer is to revolutionize emergency response by providing a rapid, autonomous, and highly adaptable aerial rescue platform. It is designed to bridge the gap between traditional helicopters and drones, offering fast deployment, precision navigation, and reliable payload delivery in challenging environments. 

The AeroGuardian features an autonomous quadrocopter, with a co-axial configuration and modular components. “The arms are removable – pretty much a plug-and-play type of a system,” Younes describes. “For transportation, we would just remove the arms to make it much smaller so it can fit in the back of a pickup truck.”  

Similarly, the battery packs are removable and can be swapped out for other battery packs, which is very beneficial for multiple rounds of flying in many different conditions. “We’ve done a lot of work in the redundancy and safety aspects of the vehicle,” Younes points out. The vehicle will still be able to fly if one of the motors fails, and the same redundancy applies to the batteries, propellers, flight controllers, motors, and sensors, with a pilot monitoring operations.

To accomplish its objectives in GoAERO, Nima assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts “ensuring a highly skilled workforce dedicated to building a 2-3 passenger eVTOL.” In addition to Nima and Younes, the team includes specialists across several key areas:

Aerospace Engineering & Design:

• Dr. Khaled Daghestani, a senior mechanical engineer with over 20 years of experience in detailed design studies and analysis of airplanes, UAVs, eVTOLs, and gyrocopters

• Dr. Abdulhakim Algmuni, a senior composite design and fabrication engineer with expertise in aerodynamics, propulsion, and structural analysis

• Dr. Mostafa Asadi Khanouki, an experienced flight control engineer specializing in advanced air mobility, eVTOL design, and flight autonomy

Mechanical & Industrial Design:

• Hossein Kazemi, with over a decade of experience in CAD design, fabrication (CNC machining, laser cutting), and assembly processes

• Dhanush Kumar, a prototyping engineer skilled in CNC manufacturing and transforming concepts into functional prototypes

• Sarthak Bhatnagar, an industrial automotive/aircraft designer with several years of experience in transportation design and engineering

Robotics & Drone Technology:

• Jonathan Spraggett, a robotics engineer with experience in R&D for advanced robotic systems

• Erfan KhademAgha, a drone specialist with more than 17 years of experience in aeronautics, specializing in both manned and unmanned aviation

Electronics & Software:

• Manoj Chapagain, a full stack developer and software engineer experienced in web application development, distributed systems, and cybersecurity

• Akshaykumar Patel, a full stack developer creating reliable, secure, and scalable applications

• Robson Vieira de Souza, an electronic hardware and firmware engineer from UNICAMP E-Racing, which designed and built electric Formula SAE cars

• Michael Piggot, an electronic technologist with dedicated expertise in electronic hardware and PCB design

What they all have in common is an interest in emergency response innovation, which stems from the urgent need for faster, more efficient, and accessible rescue solutions,” Nima emphasizes. “Natural disasters, medical emergencies, and remote rescue missions often suffer from delays due to terrain, traffic, or logistical constraints. By developing a compact, autonomy-enabled eVTOL, we hope to improve response times, reduce operational costs, and ultimately save more lives.”

He acknowledges the difficulties they’ve faced: “the road has been bumpy because the goal is difficult to achieve but we had to start somewhere. I have a passion and love for this and for this industry. That is what drives me.”  

That intense drive is reflected in MOSTAVIO’s development approach for the AeroGuardian. Through continuous innovation and rigorous testing, “we are striving to make advanced aerial emergency response a reality, ensuring first responders and humanitarian organizations have the tools they need to operate swiftly and effectively.”

Younes concludes with the team’s motivating perspective: “the challenges are complex, but the outcome is more rewarding. There is a higher ROI, return on investment. The value of what we can achieve is clearer and immediate.”