Coming soon to a sky near you: Volocopter

According to a press release, the new investment round was led by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), a privately-owned automotive group with a portfolio of global brands including Geely Auto, Volvo Cars, and Lotus Other automakers with a vested interest in Volocopter include Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, which invested USD 30 million in 2017. The stated mission of Volocopter, builder of electrically powered vertical take-off and landing aircraft, is to commercialize autonomous, on-demand air taxi services. In September, the company successfully completed its first manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay, kicking off its efforts to bring manned commercial air-taxi service to Singapore. The 2X model was flown for a distance of just under one mile at a cruising elevation of approximately 130 feet, lasting for about two minutes. According to a press release, the company is following what it calls the “growing migration of people to cities,” which is straining current modes of urban mobility. The German-based startup’s air taxi technology has been in development and undergoing testing for nearly 10 years, and its electrically powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are designed to bring alternative mass urban transit options to the table. René Hartner, vice president of Corporate Business Development at Micron Technology said, “Volocopter is an exciting company that’s well-positioned to revolutionize the mobility and transportation market and contribute to building a sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation infrastructure. Micron’s investment in Volocopter aligns with our view of the critical role that memory and storage solutions play in enabling the breakthrough capabilities needed for autonomous vehicles and edge computing.” Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter said, “We’re proud to have Micron partner with us as we execute on our bold vision to bring urban air mobility to life. Volocopter helps megacities transform their mobility infrastructure toward a more sustainable future. We aim to offer affordable, autonomous, on-demand air taxi services to transport people in megacities — all for the price of a taxi ride and with significant time savings.” This fourth round of funding brings the total amount funded to approximately USD 89 million.