Lilium Raises $119 Million For eVTOL Development

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Germany-based electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Lilium has raised $119 million in capital from its existing shareholders, new investors and strategic partners. Companies participating in the capital raise included Honeywell, Aciturri, LGT, Tencent and B. Riley Securities. Lilium stated that it plans to use the money to continue to fund its operations, develop the Lilium Jet and for general corporate purposes.

“We are pleased to have such a high-quality group of supporters in a challenging macro environment,” said Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe. “These proceeds are expected to strengthen our balance sheet and advance our commercialization efforts including signing of customer agreements with pre-delivery payments, reaching an agreement with EASA on our Means of Compliance, and commencing assembly of the type-conforming aircraft for the final manned flight test campaign.”

Lilium began flight testing in 2017 with a two-seat eVTOL prototype and got a five-seat model in the air in 2019. The seven-seat Lilium Jet, for which the company has received a CRI-A01 certification basis from EASA, was introduced in 2021. Designed for regional air taxi and freight services, the seven-seat Lilium Jet is expected to have a top speed of up to 300 km/h (162 knots) and be capable of routes between 40 and 200 km (22-108 NM) at launch.

Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Good question, but you’ve got to admit that today’s commercial fleet is sorely lacking in aircraft designed to meet the 22NM market for fast transport of people and goods. There is no better path to success than finding a need and filling it!

  2. I believe in electric flight but I wonder whether the market for eVTOL will support all of the investment. I expect that there will be a number of pioneers with arrows in the back.

  3. Last time I checked, Lilium was the Snake Oil salesman of the eVTOL industry. It is beyond me how seasoned aerospace managers like Klaus Roewe and Tom Enders (both ex Airbus) can risk their reputation with these guys. Their contracts must be lucrative.

    Here’s some background:
    https://iceberg-research.com/2022/03/14/stronglilium-nv-the-losing-horse-in-the-evtol-racenbsp-strong/

    Or, if you read German, an extensive dossier including some expert assessments that are not favorable at all:
    https://www.aerokurier.de/elektroflug/lilium-jet-dossier/

  4. The urban lesson from The Simpsons monorail episode still apply:
    The Sell isn’t Always Reality
    City Against City
    Mob Mentality

    The real takeaway is that previous area transit “planning” has failed and that the new shiney thing is more important than fixing real world problems. So yea, another $119 million handed to dream salesmen.

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