Electric air taxi startup Volocopter raises €200 million in Series D funding

Germany-based urban air mobility (UAM) firm Volocopter has secured €200 million in new funding as it gears up for certification - and commercialisation - for VoloCity, its electric air taxi.

The list of new backers is mighty long and includes funds managed by BlackRock, mobility tech giant Continental, infrastructure company Atlantia, Avala Capital, Jericho Capital, NTT (via its venture capital arm), Tokyo Century, a handful of unnamed family offices, and others.

All existing investors, including Geely, Daimler, DB Schenker, Intel Capital, btov Partners, Team Europe, and Klocke Holding amongst others also participated in the fresh financing round.

Volocopter has raised €322 million to date, and says it expects its first commercial air taxi routes to be opened within the next two years.

Aside from its battery-powered air taxi services, the company is also planning things like VoloDrone for transporting goods, and VoloPort, take-off and landing infrastructure for inner-cities.

"Volocopter is ahead of the curve in the UAM industry, and we have the achievements to prove it," said Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter in a statement. "No other electric air taxi company has publicly performed as many flights in cities around the world, with full regulatory approval, as Volocopter has. Our VoloCity is the fifth generation of Volocopter aircraft and has a strong path to being the first certified electric air taxi for cities. Volocopter already has the extensive partnerships necessary to set up the UAM ecosystem for launching both our company and the industry into commercial operations. We are called the pioneers of UAM for a reason, and we plan to keep that title."