Flying Taxi Startup Lilium Burned Through $1 Billion. Now It’s Facing Bankruptcy

Flying taxis could reduce an airport commute from 90 minutes to 7. They could better connect small towns to urban areas. Optimistic investors believe they’re the future of urban travel. 

There’s a lot in the way of making that reality. It comes down to capital. And Lilium, despite raising $1.1 billion since 2021, has run out.

The Germany company plans to file for insolvency and apply for government-supervised restructuring, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

That means that Lilium faces significant risk of going bankrupt or shutting down if it can’t raise additional funds.

“Despite its continuous and ongoing fundraising efforts, the company has not been able to raise sufficient additional funds,” Lilium said in the filing, adding that it “will need to seek financing from third parties including any purchaser of their assets.”

The company had sought a €50 million ($54 million) loan from the German government, but lawmakers denied the request this month, according to the filing. 

A Tough Venture

Lilium has been developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with six passenger seats.  

There are several startups worldwide developing similar products. 

It’s a resource-intensive venture that has required each of them to raise hundreds of millions of dollars before a commercial passenger ever steps onboard. It requires research and development, design, prototype manufacturing and testing, certification, and full-scale commercial production — all before generating any revenue. 

The earliest that any of them projects flying commercial passengers is 2026. 

Joby Aviation, which raised $500 million last month, just announced that it’s raising another $202 million through a public offering of common stock.

The UK-base startup Vertical Aerospace nearly ran out of money before its CEO invested $50 million of his own capital earlier this year.

Lilium Financials

Lilium was founded in 2015 by four engineers and PhD students at the Technical University of Munich. The first CEO, Daniel Wiegand, is now chief engineer for the company. 

Klaus Roewe, a 30-year Airbus veteran, became CEO of Lilium in 2022.

The company has signed purchasing deals with Saudi Arabia, Azul Airlines, and others.

The company has deals to establish flight networks in the Lombardy region in northern Italy, in Paris and the Middle East at airports owned by Groupe ADP, and at airports across Florida, and several other regions.

Lilium went public in September 2021 via SPAC, raising $584 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion. It’s raised another $525 million since then: $114 million in 2024, $292 million in 2023, and $119 million in 2022. It was one of the highest-funded travel startups in 2023. 

The company has buy-in from Honeywell Aerospace, BlackRock, Aciturri, and LGT.

Prior to going public, the company raised nearly $400 million, including its $240 million series C in 2020.  

It faced delisting last year because its stock price fell below the $1 minimum requirement for two months. 

Lilium stock has plummeted 75% over the last two days.

The company has more than 1,000 employees, according to its website.