German electric aerial taxi developer Volocopter has raised €153 million in the first signing of its Series E funding round led by South Korean investor WP Investment. Volocopter expects that the new capital will accelerate the certification of Volocopter’s electric passenger air cab and its launch in initial cities.
Volocopter had closed its Series D financing round in March 2021, which raised a total of €200 million for the company. The further Series E round has arguably become necessary as Volocopter had cancelled its planned SPAC IPO in the US at the end of 2021 – the market environment and the results of the IPOs of some of its competitors were not promising.
Existing investors such as Atlantia and Honeywell have participated in the current financing, but new partners have also joined. WP Investment invested in Volocopter as part of the E-Series (and directly led the funding round with an undisclosed sum) and directly signed a joint venture agreement with the German company. The joint venture will launch Urban Air Mobility “in South Korean cities soon,” Volocopter writes. “We are confident that Volocopter will be among the first to bring UAM to cities globally, since seeing its aircraft fly in Seoul last year,” said Lei Wang, CEO of WP Investment.
“Volocopter has spectacular investors from around the globe, which puts us in an excellent position to focus on our first-to-certification and first-to-market strategies before we embark on the path to public listing,” says Christian Bauer, CCO of Volocopter.
Keyword: Volocopter closes financing round with €153 million