Lilium just took a huge step towards bringing electric flying cars to Europe

Curtis Moldrich Read more September 5, 2017

Electric power might be the future of four-wheeled vehicles, but some companies are developing EVs that won’t use roads at all. Yes, I’m talking about electric flying cars. Lilium is a startup working on developing electric cars for the sky, and it just took a huge step towards achieving its goal.

According to a report from Venture Beat, the German aviation startup just raised $90 million of funding from Chinese technology giant Tencent, Atomico, Obvious Ventures and LGT. Those companies may not be that well known in the public eye, but they feature VCs who have helped to fund everything from Skype to Twitter – so Lilium clearly has a viable project.

Lilium was founded in Munich in 2014. Its mission is to create a world “in which everyone can fly anywhere, anytime,” using compact all-electric jets to do it.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ohig71bwRUE

Interestingly, this means the flying cars can take off vertically yet fly horizontally – saving both fuel, runway space and time. Lilium’s current models can transport people in 300km in one hour and Lilium co-founder and CEO Daniel Wiegand says the future versions will cost around the same as an Uber.

“This investment is a tremendously important step for Lilium, as it enables us to make the five-seat jet a reality,” added Lilium co-founder and CEO Daniel Wiegand. “This is the next stage in our rapid evolution from an idea to the production of a commercially successful aircraft that will revolutionize the way we travel in and around the world’s cities.”

So what’s the funding going towards? According to Lilium, the money will be used to continue to develop a larger, five-seater jet, but it’ll also be used to expand its constantly growing team.

“We are continuing to recruit the very brightest and best global talent in aeronautical engineering, physics, electric propulsion, and computer science to join us on this extraordinary aviation journey, where the only limits are the laws of physics,” Wiegand told Venture Beat.