The archive · Hardware & Devices · Strategic decision · 2015–2026
Lilium's eVTOL jet bet: $1.5B raised, zero deliveries, twice insolvent by 2025
Lilium raised ~$1.5B for regional electric jet taxis, listed via SPAC, won 780+ orders, then went insolvent in 2024 and 2025 with zero deliveries.
Lilium
What the business is
Lilium designed an all-electric vertical take-off and landing jet for regional routes, targeting premium shuttle and air-taxi services, and booked more than 780 jets in orders and letters of intent before its first delivery.
Starting capital：More than $1B raised privately before the 2021 Nasdaq listing via SPAC Qell (TechCrunch); Flight Plan put total deployment at ~$1.5B before insolvency.
How it started
Four German engineers — Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen and Matthias Meiner — founded Lilium in Munich in 2015 around a two-seat prototype, betting that regional electric aviation was close enough to build. It raised more than $1B from private investors including Tencent, and in 2021 went public on Nasdaq via a reverse merger with SPAC Qell; Saudia Group ordered up to 100 jets and the company built a pipeline of 780+ aircraft.
What happened
Lilium powered up its first full-scale prototype and in 2023 secured an FAA G-1 certification basis, but it was still years from delivery and burning cash faster than it raised. In October 2024 the German parliament's budget committee blocked a €50M guarantee for a €100M KfW convertible loan; Lilium GmbH filed for self-administered insolvency. On 2024-12-23 the company ceased operations and laid off about 1,000 people; two days later the Mobile Uplift consortium agreed to buy the operating assets with more than €200M pledged, planning to rehire staff.
How it ended up
The rescue failed: promised funding from the consortium (including Slovak investor Marian Bocek's DTM) never arrived, and Lilium Aerospace filed for a second insolvency on 2025-02-21 and stopped operations. No commercial flight was ever delivered; the administrator later sold about 300 patents to US rival Archer Aviation for €18M.
Background
Lilium was a bet that regional electric aviation was ready to be built. Founded in Munich in 2015 by four engineers around a two-seat prototype, the startup raised more than $1B — backers included Tencent — and went public on Nasdaq in 2021 via a reverse merger with SPAC Qell, with Saudia Group ordering up to 100 jets.
The bet was specifically about form factor and range. Instead of multicopter urban air taxis, Lilium built a ducted-fan jet with fixed wings and dozens of electric fans that would carry passengers on regional routes, arguing that longer range made certification and unit economics viable; it secured an FAA G-1 certification basis in 2023 and powered up its first full-scale prototype.
The company burned cash faster than it could raise it. In October 2024 the German parliament's budget committee blocked a €50M guarantee for a €100M KfW convertible loan, and Lilium GmbH filed for self-administered insolvency; on 2024-12-23 it ceased operations and laid off about 1,000 workers. Days later the Mobile Uplift consortium agreed to buy the operating assets, pledging more than €200M, but the promised money never arrived.
Lilium Aerospace filed a second insolvency on 2025-02-21 and stopped operations with no commercial flight ever delivered; the administrator later sold about 300 patents to US rival Archer Aviation for €18M. The total bill, by Flight Plan's reckoning, was about $1.5B.
What has to be true
- The founders chose a differentiated form factor — a ducted-fan regional jet — over the crowded urban air-taxi niche, making certification and range the battleground.
- A strong demand signal existed early: 780+ jets in orders and letters of intent, including 100 from Saudia Group, validated the market thesis before any delivery.
- Capital structure was the weak point: the plan depended on a state-guaranteed KfW loan and later a single rescue consortium, so two political or investor vetoes killed the company.
- Going public via SPAC in 2021 gave it a Nasdaq listing and attention, but public markets did not replace the patient capital a certification programme needs.
What can be applied
A $1.5B moonshot can die at the last funding step: Lilium's plan hinged on one state loan and one rescue consortium — when both fell through, years of engineering and 780 orders counted for nothing.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-01 Lilium is gone as an operating company: Lilium Aerospace stopped operations after the February 2025 insolvency, and the administrator sold the patent portfolio — roughly 300 patents covering propulsion, batteries, flight controls and ducted fans — to US eVTOL rival Archer Aviation for €18M. About 1,000 employees lost their jobs in December 2024, and no aircraft was ever delivered to a customer. The technology has been picked over by the wider advanced-air-mobility industry, but the German startup that once held 780 orders and an FAA certification basis no longer exists.
Sources
- Electric aircraft startup Lilium ceases operations, 1,000 workers laid off
- Shuttered electric air taxi startup Lilium may be saved after all
- Germany's Lilium files for final insolvency
- Archer Acquires Lilium's Patent Portfolio
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