Lilium Secures $90 Million Series B Funding Round Lilium, the German aviation company developing the world’s first all-electric jet capable of vertical takeoff and landing (evtol), has announced a $90 million Series B funding round. Lilium is a German company founded in 2015 by four academics at the Technical University of Munich. The men shared a vision of a completely new type of transportation. In less than two years, Lilium has grown from the founding team to a company of more than 70 world-class engineers, developing and building the world’s first fully electric vertical take-off and landing (evtol) Jet. Earlier this month the company, which is headquartered in Munich, announced senior level hires from Airbus, Tesla and Gett. Lilium aims to bring low cost air travel to a mass audience moving people up to 300 km (186.4 miles) in one hour on a single electric charge, at a price comparable to ground transport. With this latest infusion of cash, the company has now raised more than $100 million overall. The five-seat hyper-efficient, zero emission, low-noise passenger jet is now in accelerated development The funding group consists of Tencent; lgt, the international private banking and asset management group; Atomico, Lilium’s Series A backer founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström; and Obvious Ventures, whose co-founder Ev Williams is Twitter’s co-founder and former ceo. The investment will be used for the development of the five-seat Lilium Jet that will fly commercially, as well as to grow the company’s current team of more than 70. In April Lilium achieved a world first when the full size prototype successfully performed its most complicated maneuver– transitioning between hover mode and horizontal flight. Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and ceo said: “This investment is a tremendously important step for Lilium as it enables us to make the five-seat jet a reality. This is the next stage in our rapid evolution from an idea to the production of a commercially successful aircraft that will revolutionize the way we travel in and around the world’s cities. It makes Lilium one of the best-funded electric aircraft projects in the world. Our backers recognize that Lilium’s innovative evtol technology puts us in the lead in this exciting new industry, with no other company promising the economy, speed, range and low-noise levels of the Lilium Jet.” “We are continuing to recruit the very brightest and best global talent in aeronautical engineering, physics, electric propulsion and computer science to join us on this extraordinary aviation journey where the only limits are the laws of physics.” The Lilium Jet’s electric jet engines are highly efficient and ultra-low noise, allowing it to operate in densely populated urban areas, while also covering longer distances at high speed with zero emissions. With the jet requiring no significant infrastructure, Lilium will be able to bring high speed transportation services to small cities and villages as well as large city centers for the first time. With the Lilium Jet’s capability to travel at 150+ mph for one hour on a single charge – means that, for example, the 12 mile journey fromManhattan to jfk Airport could last as little as five minutes. The jet’s economy and efficiency means that flights are predicted to cost less than the same journey in a normal road taxi. Learn more at lilium.com Press Pass
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