The German electric flying taxi start-up Lilium has announced a 250 million US dollar capital increase. The young company says it needs around 226 million euros to last until the first manned flight in the first half of next year.
In March, Lilium co-founder Daniel Wiegand told the German publication Handelsblatt that the company lacked about 300 million dollars to finance the certification phase. The company has now secured part of this because according to the announcement, the existing Chinese investor Tencent wants to invest another 100 million dollars in the start-up. Tencent wants to release another 75 million dollars if Lilium manages to raise the same amount again from other investors – which corresponds to a total of 250 million dollars.
Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe says he is talking to a variety of existing and potential new investors: “The capital raise announced today marks an important development in our ongoing mission to revolutionize the aviation industry. With this financing, we are excited to continue our development program at full pace. We remain in multiple constructive discussions with existing and potential new investors. We hope to announce further updates soon.”
This means that nothing is final yet, especially as the company writes that the capital increase will only cover “most of the estimated capital” for its first manned test flight. At the end of 2022, Lilium still had more than 206 million euros available, according to a letter to investors. But in the first half of 2023 alone, the startup expected to spend €125 million.
A total of six aircraft are to be built for the certification phase. In the second half of next year, the eVTOL aircraft, the first all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet according to the company, is to make its first manned flight.
lilium.com, investors.lilium.com (SEC statement), reuters.com, handelsblatt.com (paywall, in German)
Keyword: Lilium secures further capital but continues investor search