Lilium, developer of an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet, has announced a capital raise for up to $250 million, with $100 million funded at close.

This capital raise enables Lilium to continue the development of its Lilium Jet at full pace and would cover most of the estimated capital required to achieve first manned flight of the type-conforming aircraft.

Once this development milestone is achieved, which is planned for the second half of 2024, Lilium expects to benefit from the contribution of substantial pre-delivery payments (PDPs) which will help fund its subsequent capital requirements.

‘Continue our development programme at full pace’

Lilium CEO Klaus Roewe said: “The capital raise announced … marks an important development in our ongoing mission to revolutionise the aviation industry. With this financing, we are excited to continue our development programme at full pace. We remain in multiple constructive discussions with existing and potential new investors. We hope to announce further updates soon.”

Lilium’s most recent shareholder letter, published on March 28, 2023, highlighted its continued achievements towards important milestones, including a successful high-speed Phoenix demonstrator flight, continued commercial momentum, confirmation of the Lilium Jet’s battery technology, certification progress, and advances in their supply chain, all of which are accelerating the company towards the start of production of the first type-conforming aircraft.

Battery cell production

Last month, Lilium and battery cell production partner, Customcells, announced they were ramping up battery cell production of Lilium’s high silicon content cells with weekly deliveries from Customcells production line in Tübingen, Germany.

The production line will deliver thousands of cells annually and is on track to meet aviation standards for traceability and process control using a combination of standard cell production processes and a pre-lithiation process for high silicon content cells.

Lilium partners with Ionblox for its exclusive silicon anode cell technology that allows for greater energy and power density combined with high cycle life. Following their partnership announcement in 2021, Customcells and Lilium are now successfully leveraging a pre-lithiation process that the companies are further industrialising towards volume production. The pre-lithiation process, a key advantage for enabling greater energy and power density, inserts additional lithium to compensate for the loss of lithium during the first cycle.
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