New investor consortium to fund Lilium with €200 million

According to the German Manager Magazin, the investor consortium Mobile Uplift Corporation (MUC) will fund the flying taxi developer with 200 million euros. Apparently, the money will be used to ensure that operations will continue for the time being. However, the money has not yet been paid out. MUC wants to wait for the end of the restructuring process to do so. “We are optimistic, but not euphoric,” a MUC spokesperson is quoted as saying by the German press.

The Manager Magazin also has some insights about what companies belong to the investor consortium. There is no official list of names, and so far, MUC has only stated that some of Lilium’s existing shareholders and creditors wanted to participate. One of them is allegedly the German battery maker Customcells. The latter signed an agreement with Lilium in 2021 to supply battery technology for Lilium’s jet.

Moreover, the venture capital Fifth Wall will also invest in Lilium, Manager Magazin learned from people familiar with the matter. It could be one of the biggest investors, as it has already raised $3.2 billion in capital, including an $866 million fund for startups in the field of property technology. According to internal circles, other investors are likely to include Maximilian Prinz von und zu Liechtenstein, CEO of LGT Group, and Niklas Zennström, founder and ex-CEO of Skype and current Managing Director of Atomico. The well-known investors 468 Capital, Financial Investments SPC and Earlybird are also likely to have been involved in saving Lilium from bankruptcy.

Deal to be finalised in January

As mentioned above, the last-minute deal was announced on 24 December. Just days earlier, Lilium had said that its last 750 employees would be made redundant – now, they will be brought back. However, it is not a done deal quite yet. The decisive creditors’ committees for the two Lilium subsidiaries, Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH, still have to be appointed by the court. The latter then must approve the purchase agreement – which could take a few days. Nevertheless, the agreement is currently expected to be finalised at the beginning of January 2025.

It has been quite a ride for Lilium. Founded in 2015, the startup was long regarded as a promising developer of an electric flying taxi, a so-called eVTOL. The first flight was scheduled for early 2025. However, Lilium needed an extremely large amount of capital for development. Investors poured around 1.5 billion euros into the startup, but were ultimately unwilling to add more.

First, it looked as though it would get funding from the German government on the state and federal level.  In mid-October, however, it became clear that neither the federal government nor the Free State of Bavaria would provide any financial support, and Lilium filed for insolvency.

Then, there were reports the company had found an investor, followed by reports that the company would be liquidated. But now, the course seems to have been. But only at the last minute, as the employees’ salaries will only be paid by the labour office until the end of the year as part of the insolvency benefits. After that, Lilium would have had to pay the employees itself again.

Update 6 January 2025

Four investors have apparently paid the first five million euros to the Mobile Uplift Corporations, as the German Gründerszene learned. Specifically, these are the investors Frank Thelen, Christian Reber (Wunderlist and Pitch), Ioniq founder and investor Jan Beckers and Niklas Zennström (Atomico).

It is said to be a convertible loan. The tech investors would receive shares in MUC in return – on 15 January, as the source told Gründerszene.

However, it is important to note that MUC is still not officially the new owner of Lilium Aviation. That means investors could still pull out at the last minute. However, this first concrete cash flow makes the latter’s rescue more tangible.

manager-magazin.de (in German), businessinsider.de (update; in German)