The European aerospace tech is about to take off. There are dozens of startups that work across sectors such as satellite imagery, aviation, aerial vehicles, and many others. Nourishing and motivating these startups is a slew of space tech accelerators. These aerospace startups work towards bringing air travel into reality and make it affordable for everyone to commute via air taxis without getting stuck in traffic.
While there are many startups that kick off in this sector, most of them struggle to overcome the business challenges and staggering innovation required to make personal air transportation accessible to a wider audience across the world. Without further ado, here we have cherry-picked a handful of emerging as well as popular aerospace startups in Europe to watch out for in 2019 as sourced from Dealroom.
Lilium (Germany)
Founders: Daniel Wiegand, Matthias Meiner, Patrick Nathen, Sebastian Born
Funding: €92.2 million
Valuation: $360 million – $540 million
Founded year: 2014
Why its hot: Munich-based Lilium is involved in developing on-demand, revolutionary air taxis. The recent offering is a five-seater aircraft dubbed Lilium Jet. It is a fully-electric aircraft, which can take off and land vertically. The first testing of the Lilium Jet has already been completed and it is claimed to be an emission-free aircraft even at speeds over 100 km/h.
Volocopter (Germany)
Founders: Alexander Zosel, Stephan Wolf
Funding: €81.2 million
Valuation: €200 million
Founded year: 2011
Why its hot: Volocopter, a German air taxi startup is in plans to launch a new vehicle called VoloCity. It is the fourth-generation eVOTL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft from the company. VoloCity is touted to be more powerful than its predecessors with an airspeed of 110 km/h and a range of around 35 km. It features 18 rotors and can ferry two passengers.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (UK)
Founders: Roger Munk
Funding: €6.6 million
Valuation: £5 million – £7 million
Founded year: 2007
Why its hot: Hybrid Air Vehicles is a provider of best airplanes, helicopters, and airships. The company revolutionises air cargo transport with its mission to change the way aircrafts fly. Its product, Airlander is touted to have capabilities that no other aircraft has. Also, the aircraft is touted to have characteristics such as low emissions, which is important for a hybrid aircraft in the industry.
ROTORVOX (Germany)
CEO: Ronald Schoppe
Founded year: 2011
Why its hot: ROTORVOX is a German aviation company, which is a part of the LIFT Air aviation group. It comprises the brands Horten Aircraft and Flight Design. Also, the company benefits from worldwide marketing opportunities. ROTORVOX was founded after half a decade of intense flight testing, development, and detailed optimisation. The company provides first-class flight experience for its passengers.
Heart Aerospace (Sweden)
Founders: Anders Forslund
Funding: €1.9 million
Valuation: €8 million – €13 million
Founded year: 2018
Why its hot: Heart Aerospace operates with the mission to create the most affordable, fastest, and sustainable transportation for regional travel across the world. The company’s first aircraft is the ES-19, which is a nineteen-passenger airliner. It is touted to operate with a range of 400 km and has been certified for commercial operation by 2025.
Elixir Aircraft (France)
Founders: Arthur Léopold-Léger, Cyril Champenois
Funding: €2.5 million
Founded year: 2014
Why its hot: Elixir Aircraft has developed a two-seat light aircraft, which will conform to the European Aviation Safety Agency Certification Standard CS-23. The aircraft was announced at the Paris Air Show back in 2015 and has been launched in two models. The company believes that it can transform the future of general aviation with its aircraft.
Wingly (France)
Founders: Bertrand Joab-Cornu, Emeric de Waziers, Lars Klein
Funding: €2.5 million
Valuation: €8 million – €12 million
Founded year: 2015
Why its hot: Wingly is a flight-sharing platform, which connects pilots and passengers. Private pilots can add flights they have planned using the platform so that potential passengers can easily book flights. Besides flights to a destination, there is also a huge range of short and long discovery flights. Basically, it operates like carpooling services that exist right now.
Main image picture credits: Elixir Aircraft
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