Germany-based Volocopter, an urban air mobility company that develops eco-friendly air taxis to transport people, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an additional $182M (approximately €183M) in its Series E funding round.
Earlier this year, in March 2022, Volocopter raised $170M (then, approx €154.23M) in the initial signing of its Series E funding round, led by South Korean investor WP Investment, at a pre-money valuation of $1.7B (then, nearly €1.54B).
Investors in this round
The current round’s investors include NEOM – the Red Sea’s smart, cognitive region project – and GLy Capital Management of Hong Kong. The company says this funding will carry it beyond the certification of its electric passenger aircraft, the VoloCity air taxi.
Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter, says, “Attracting NEOM And GLy as investors is a great success and highlights our pole position in the commercial certification race. This is the key requirement to launching commercial operations and starting to generate revenue.”
Volocopter: Everything you need to know
The company aims to build the ecosystem necessary to “Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life” by cooperating with partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management.
Volocopter is building the world’s first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services to megacities worldwide. With the VoloCity, the company is developing the first fully electric “eVTOL” aircraft in certification to transport passengers safely and quietly within cities. Besides, VoloCity, it’s family of aircraft includes VoloConnect and VoloDrone.
Founded in 2011 by Stephan Wolf and Alexander Zosel, Volocopter is managed by CEO Florian Reuter, CTO Dr Arnaud Coville, CFO Rene Griemens, and CCO Christian Bauer, chaired by Stefan Klocke.
The company claims to be the first and only eVTOL company to receive Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Volocopter has committed to launching commercial air taxi services in cities like Singapore, Rome, Paris and the NEOM region.
Recently, Volocopter announced that it has entered a financing agreement in principle with Aviation Capital Group (ACG) to shape the sale and leasing of Volocopter aircraft for up to $1B. Once aircraft certification has been achieved, this agreement will allow Volocopter to offer its operating entities and customers worldwide leasing options.
Volocopter has 500 employees in offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore, and claims to have completed over 1,500 successful public and private test flights.
Who are the new investors
In December 2021, Volocopter and NEOM formed a joint venture (JV) firm, becoming key partners in integrating the VoloCity and VoloDrone into NEOM’s sustainable and smart mobility solutions. For the first seven years, the JV will develop, integrate, and operate all-electric public aviation routes.
Florian Lennert, Head of Mobility of NEOM, says, “At Neom we strongly believe in the potential for urban air mobility to provide a new dimension to future integrated transport systems. Building on our successful collaboration with Volocopter, we are excited to strengthen our partnership and make a strategic investment in the future of mobility.”
GLy Capital is financed by Geely Holding, and Geely and Volocopter intend to deliver UAM to China, which may become one of the main markets for electric air taxis.
Hrvoje Krkalo, co-CEO of GLy, says, “Volocopter’s vision encompasses industrial short- and medium-range commercial passenger applications to bring efficiency to the way we move around our cities. I look forward to supporting their journey; a journey that promises to be exciting, safe, and scenic in equal measure.”
With many interested companies having passed the due diligence phase, Volocopter’s Series E funding round remains open.
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