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Urban air mobility (UAM) company Volocopter GbmH (Bruschal, Germany) has recently raised $170 million in the initial signing of its Series E funding round led by South Korean investor WP Investment (Seoul), at a pre-money valuation of $1.7 billion. Composed of funds by new and existing investors, the money raised will assist with the certification of Volocopter’s composites-intensive electric passenger air taxi, VoloCity, and is expected to help Volocopter achieve commercial launch in cities worldwide.

With 10 years of experience in the UAM industry, Volocopter reports that it is developing new and sustainable mobility options with its family of aircraft, the VoloCity, VoloConnect and VoloDrone. The company concedes that it has been the first and only electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company to receive Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Volocopter has committed to launching commercial air taxi services in cities like Singapore, Rome and Paris.

“This funding round is a testament to Volocopter’s leading position in what is a highly attractive emerging market,” says Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter. “We continue to make significant technical and commercial progress as we work toward bringing urban air mobility to life at scale in cities worldwide.”

WP Investment is a leading and new investor for Volocopter in this funding round. Following this announcement, Volocopter and WP Investment will enter into a strategic partnership by creating a joint venture that will soon bring UAM to South Korea’s cities.

“We are confident that Volocopter will be among the first to bring UAM to cities globally, since seeing its aircraft fly in Seoul last year [2021]. As a leader in ESG investment, we are excited to empower city sustainability through Volocopter,” says Dr. Lei Wang, chairman of WP Investment.

New investors in Volocopter include WP Investment and Honeywell (Charlotte, N.C., U.S.), amongst others. Many existing investors including Atlantia (Rome, Italy), Whysol (Milan, Italy) and btov Partners (Berlin, Germany), have also increased their investment in this round.

The company recently announced that it has entered a financing agreement in principle with Aviation Capital Group (ACG, Newport Beach, Calif., U.S.) to shape the sale and leasing of Volocopter aircraft for up to $1 billion. Once aircraft certification has been achieved, this agreement will enable Volocopter to offer its operating entities and customers worldwide attractive leasing options, a key to rapidly scaling the business in the future.