Lilium raises $240m in series- C funding round

China-based investor Tencent led the latest funding round, the company's largest so far. Other existing investors including Atomico, Freigeist and LGT also participated, bringing the total amount of funding raised to more than $340m. 

Oliver Walker-Jones, spokesperson for Lilium, told Unquote: "We're very glad to have been able to secure such funding during these turbulent times. [Covid-19 has] played a part in conversations, but not had a significant impact."

However, the recent funding reportedly falls short of the $400-500m the startup was understood to be targeting.

The company plans to use the funding for further development of its five-seater Lilium Jet and to operate a regional air mobility service by 2025. 

Walker-Jones said: "Our plan for the coming months is to continue flight testing our aircraft and to prepare for future serial production.

"A lot of this can be done insulated from the challenges around us, although we do have a significant number of our people based at home at the moment, as you would expect."

According to a report in the Financial Times, the round valued Lilium at $750m-1bn.

Previous funding
In June 2016, Freigeist provided Lilium with seed funding, alongside various business angels. In December 2016, Atomico led a €10m series-A funding round for Lilium, following which Atomico founder Niklas Zennström joined the board.

Then in September 2017, Atomico Ventures led another $90m series-B funding round for the company.

Company
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Munich, Lilium is an aviation company developing an emissions-free regional air transport service. It has designed Lilium Jet, an aircraft able to deliver regional journeys faster than rail or road, yet at a competitive price. The company employs more than 400 people.

People
Lilium – Daniel Wiegand (CEO); Christopher Delbrück (chief financial officer); Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner, Patrick Nathen (co-founders).
Tencent – David Wallerstein (chief exploration officer).

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