Lilium co-founder and CEO Daniel Wiegand will list the flying air taxi on the Nasdaq via a reverse merger with a SPAC.Lilium will list on the Nasdaq through a reverse merger with former General Motors executive Barry Engle’s blank-check company Qell Acquisition Corp at a $3.3 billion valuation.
The Munich-based startup will raise $830 million through the deal with $380 million from Engle’s SPAC, and $450 million in private investments in public equity to fuel its bet small electric aircraft can beat the traffic on congested city roads. Lilium said the funds would be used to fund the development and testing of a new seven seat electric aircraft and the launch of commercial operations in 2024. The deal comes afterrevealed in February Lilium had scrapped plans for a five seat version of its aircraft and flight testing for the new larger air taxi would not start until 2022.
“Today's announcement brings us closer to launching our passenger service,” said Daniel Wiegand, co-founder and CEO, Lilium in a. “Transport infrastructure is broken. It is costly in personal time, space consumption and carbon emissions. We are pursuing our unique electric jet technology because it is the key to higher-capacity aircraft, with lower cost per seat mile while delivering low noise and low emissions.
Lilium's unveiled a new seven seat version of its battery-powered air taxi after announcing plans for a reverse-merger with American SPAC Qell.Lilium’s move to raise capital via a reverse-merger is the latest signal that the race among aviation startups to launch a battery-powered air taxi is heating up.
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