Germany-based urban aircraft manufacturer Volocopter has raised €200m ($240m) in series D funding from investors including corporates Atlantia, Continental, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and Tokyo Century, it said today.
Telecommunications firm NTT invested through venture capital subsidiary NTT Venture Capital (NTTVC), while airport and motorway construction firm Atlantia, automotive component and tyre producer Continental and leasing services firm Tokyo Century did so directly.
Avala Capital, Jericho Capital and funds overseen by BlackRock filled out the round together with unnamed family offices and all the company’s existing investors, pushing its total funding to approximately $388m.
Pharmaceutical contract manufacturer Klocke Holding, Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chipmaker Intel, and Team Europe, a holding company for entrepreneur Lukasz Gadowski, were identified as shareholders in the latest announcement.
Founded in 2011, Volocopter is working on electric vertical take-off and landing taxis designed to be quiet and to produce no carbon emissions. It will use the cash to get certification for VoloCity, a battery-powered air mobility service, in a bid to begin offering commercial flights.
Volocopter completed a $94m series C round in February 2020 that included rail operator Deutsche Bahn’s DB Schenker unit and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and MS&AD Ventures, both representing insurance group MS&AD.
TransLink Capital Partners, which is sponsored by insurance group Sompo Japan and airline operator Japan Airlines, took part in the second tranche, as did fellow venture capital firm Btov Partners and Lukasz Gadowski. Carmaker Zhejiang Geely had led the $55.2m first close five months earlier.
Intel and Btov had provided $5.8m for the company in November 2017, following a $34.8m round featuring automotive manufacturer Daimler and individuals including Gadowski three months before.
