Volocopter's dream of creating personalized aerial vehicles appears to have moved one step further as the company announced today that it has received a $30 million funding round from European automaker Daimler.
German entrepreneur Lukasz Gadowski also participated in the financing. The German company said it will use the money to continue developing electric flying taxis, or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.
The company hopes that the aircraft, which will be able to carry two people, will play an essential role in upcoming urban transportation.
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“The strong financial commitment of our new investors is a signal and proof of growing confidence in the emerging market for electric VTOLs for use as personal air taxis,” said Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter.
“We deliberately sought different investors with different strategic and business backgrounds and were able to implement this perfectly with Daimler [and] Lukasz Gadowski.”.
Volocopter says its mission is to "make every person's dream of flying a reality while helping modern cities solve their growing transportation challenges.".
The company recently announced that it will begin demonstrations of its autonomous taxis in Dubai in the fourth quarter of this year.
The company said the next step will be to further develop the Volocopter so that it is ready for production and worldwide distribution.
To do this, they will need to hire more engineers to speed up work on areas such as the flight system and the development of the necessary software. In addition, Volocopter said it will begin systematic marketing to establish its brand.
The first licensed Volocopter should hit the market within the next year, according to the company's schedule.
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