After listing on Nasdaq in September of 2021 via a merger with SPAC Qell Acquisition Corp, Munich-based makers of eVTOL aircraft Lilium has now raised $119 million in a concurrent private placement and registered direct offering.
Participants in the raise include Honeywell and Aciturri as well as LGT and its affiliate Lightrock, Tencent, B. Riley Securities, and certain affiliates thereof. Additionally, in a strong show of support, Lilium’s new CEO Klaus Roewe also added to the company’s coffers, alongside three additional board members, Qell founder and CEO Barry Engle, Tencent veteran David Wallerstein, and Atomico CEO and Partner Niklas Zennström.
According to Lilium, the proceeds from the capital raised will be used to further fuel operations, press forward with the company’s development of the Lilium Jet, and, “for general corporate purposes, which may include payment of Lilium’s suppliers and working capital uses.”
In case you’re not reading between the lines here, things are not going so well over in Munich. At least not for Lillium, noted by a portion of this $119 million is going to be used to pay the bills; hopefully having some change left over to keep the needle moving on R&D.
According to our database, Lilium has raised approximately €907 million since 2015 and is backed by Atomico, Blackrock, Tencent, Pimco, and Lightrock to name a few.
Commenting on the situation, CEO Klaus Roewe stated, “We are pleased to have such a high-quality group of supporters in a challenging macro environment. These proceeds are expected to strengthen our balance sheet and advance our commercialisation efforts including the signing of customer agreements with pre-delivery payments, reaching an agreement with EASA on our Means of Compliance, and commencing assembly of the type-conforming aircraft for the final manned flight test campaign.”
Meanwhile, German competitor Volocopter also has a relatively new CEO, has also recently raised a sizeable amount of cash in a Series E extension round, and is also gearing up for testing and certifications as well as delivering on a self-imposed deadline of being up and running for the Paris Olympic games in 2024.
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