Nuked lilium said on Monday it has raised an additional $ 35 million to fuel its goal of launching an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle by 2025. That’s in addition to $ 240 million raised by the company in early March, when much of the globe began to feel the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
lilium, based in Munich, is continuing to raise funds for an urban taxi service. Its aim is to supplant normal car traffic. Other evtol companies are struggling to stay afloat during the covid-19 pandemic.
lilium is adding a new investor as part of its expanded round. Baillie Gifford is the second biggest shareholder in Tesla after Elon Musk. The firm is said to own 7.67 percent of Tesla, which is worth $ 10.35 billion.
Baillie Gifford is one of the world’s most influential tech investors.’their commitment to lilium represents a significant vote of confidence in both our physical product and our business case,’ he said.
lilium denied that it was ever its ambition to raise that much money, citing lower labor costs in Germany compared to Silicon Valley.’we’re very happy with the level of investment we’ve attracted, both from existing investors and new,’ a spokesperson said.
lilium is developing a’flying car’ that can carry only a handful of passengers. The vehicles are still in their prototype phase and have yet to be rolled out for commercial service.
lilium completed the first phase of testing of its five-seater 36-rotor electric prototype in October 2019. The aircraft hit speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph). lilium says it remains’on track’ to launch passenger operations in several locations around the world by 2025.
