Volocopter, a Bruchsal, Germany-based urban air mobility (UAM) platform, has secured $182 million in the second signing of its Series E funding round. However, the company didn’t disclose the latest valuation.
NEOM, the Red Sea’s smart, cognitive region project, and GLy Capital Management of Hong Kong have joined Volocopter’s diverse investor base.
The funds will be used for aircraft certification & launching the first commercial routes.
Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter, says, “Attracting NEOM And GLy as investors is a great success and highlight our pole position in the commercial certification race. This is the key requirement for launching commercial operations and generating revenue.”
The announcement comes seven months after raising $170M in funding in the initial signing of the Series E funding round at a pre-money valuation of $1.7B.
Urban air mobility
Founded in 2011 by Alexander Zosel and Stephan Wolf in Bruchsal, Germany, Volocopter is developing new and sustainable mobility options for cities globally.
With its family of aircraft (the VoloCity, VoloConnect, and VoloDrone), the company takes a unique approach by developing urban air mobility (UAM) as a holistic ecosystem.
Christian Bauer, CCO of Volocopter, says, “Raising over $180 million despite the generally tense economic climate highlights Volocopter’s robust technology strategy and its ongoing progress toward achieving market readiness. In addition, we appreciate the remarkable spirit of collaboration and the trust our existing and new shareholders have placed in us as we forge ahead on our journey to bring the urban air mobility ecosystem to life.”
Volocopter is the first and only electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company to receive Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Further, the company has committed to launching commercial air taxi services in cities like Singapore, Rome, Paris, and the NEOM region.
Volocopter and NEOM
Volocopter and NEOM signed a joint venture (JV) company in December 2021, becoming strategic partners to integrate the VoloCity air taxi and the VoloDrone into NEOM’s sustainable, smart, and seamlessly connected mobility systems. In addition, the JV will design, integrate, and operate the region’s all-electric public flight routes for the initial seven years post-launch.
Florian Lennert, Head of Mobility, 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. We believe Volocopter is the best partner to build an advanced air mobility ecosystem in Neom. We look forward to realising this exciting mission jointly with Volocopter and its global partners.”
Volocopter and GLy
GLy is backed by Geely Holding, a long-term partner of Volocopter. In their joint venture, Geely and Volocopter aim to bring UAM to China. With its high density of megacities, China is expected to become one of the largest markets for electric air taxis.
Hrvoje Krkalo— Co-CEO of GLy Capital, says, “Volocopter’s vision encompasses industrial short- and medium-range commercial passenger applications to bring efficiency to how we move around our cities. I look forward to supporting their journey, which promises to be exciting, safe, and scenic in equal measure.”
