Volocopter, a company specializing in urban air mobility (UAM), has raised an additional $182 million in the second signing of its Series E funding round.
NEOM – the Red Sea's smart, cognitive region project – and GLy Capital Management of Hong Kong have joined Volocopter's investor base. The company said the funding will carry it beyond the certification of its electric passenger aircraft, the VoloCity air taxi.
"Attracting NEOM And GLy as investors is a great success and highlights our pole position in the commercial certification race. This is the key requirement to launching commercial operations and starting to generate revenue," said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter.
Volocopter has more than 10 years of experience and upward of 1,500 successful test flights. As one of the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company to receive Design Organization Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Volocopter expects to launch its first commercial air taxi routes in the next two years in megacities like Singapore, Rome, Paris, and the NEOM region.
Volocopter and NEOM signed a joint venture (JV) company in December 2021, becoming strategic partners to integrate the VoloCity and the VoloDrone into NEOM's sustainable and smart mobility systems. The JV will design, integrate, and operate all-electric public flight routes for the initial seven years.
"At Neom we strongly believe in the potential for urban air mobility to provide a new dimension to future integrated transport systems. Building on our successful collaboration with Volocopter, we are excited to strengthen our partnership and to make a strategic investment in the future of mobility. We believe Volocopter is the best partner to build an advanced air mobility ecosystem in Neom. We look forward to realising this exciting mission jointly with Volocopter and its global partners" said Florian Lennert, Head of Mobility of NEOM.
