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BEIJING, November 3 (TMTPOST) — Volocopter, the pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM) in Germany, has raised an additional USD 182 million in its Series E funding round from two institutions, according to its announcement on Tuesday.
The duo, NEOM – the Red Sea"s smart, cognitive region project – and GLy Capital Management of Hong Kong, have joined Volocopter"s diverse investor base. This will take the company beyond the certification of its electric passenger aircraft, the VoloCity air taxi.
The funds raised will be used for the certification of the airworthiness of the flying car and the launch of the first commercial routes. Volocopter has raised a total of $761 million to date.
Before a flying car can be commercially launched, it needs to complete airworthiness certification, which is a technical review of aircraft safety by civil aviation regulators. Because of the rigorous and complex airworthiness certification process, it usually takes several years to test the technical and financial strength of the company. Flying cars are new things using new power and control systems, and there is no previous way for a reference to gain airworthiness certification.
As one of the leading flying car companies, Volocopter started its research and development as early as 2011. The company disclosed a pre-investment valuation of $1.7 billion at the time.
Volocopter has developed the VoloCity air taxi, a multi-rotor flying car for intra-city commuting, which is the company"s most mature model and the first flying car planned for commercial operation. In addition, the company has developed the composite wing flying cars VoloRegion and VoloDrone with longer range ranges for intercity commuting and cargo transport, respectively.
Flying cars, also known as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL), are actual aviation vehicles, a product of electrification in aviation. Mainstream flying car companies hope to build an urban air transportation network to solve the problem of traffic congestion in large cities.
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