Electric air service Volocopter has raised $170 million in a Series E funding round.
The investment in the Germany-based electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft startup was led by WP Investment, while existing and new investors including Atlantia and Honeywell were also involved.
The funds will go towards the certification of Volocopter’s electric passenger air taxi and helping its launch in cities around the world.
Volocopter offers a number of mobility services for cities including urban taxi service VoloCity and VoloConnect for longer trips.
Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, says: “This funding round is a testament to Volocopter’s leading position in what is a highly attractive emerging market. We continue to make significant technical and commercial progress as we work toward bringing urban air mobility to life at scale in cities worldwide.”
Dr. Lei Wang, chairman of WP Investment, adds: “We are confident that Volocopter will be among the first to bring UAM (urban air mobility) to cities globally, since seeing its aircraft fly in Seoul last year. As a leader in ESG investment, we are excited to empower city sustainability through Volocopter. ”
The company has raised $579 million in total including this current round and a €200 million Series D round a year ago.
It recently signed a financing agreement with Aviation Capital Group of up to $1 billion that will help it sell and lease its aircraft.
Last month Air Asia announced a deal with Avolon to lease 100 eVTOL aircraft to provide "advanced air mobility" to passengers.