Lilium, the flying taxi startup company based in Munich, has secured a 35-million-dollar investment from Baillie Gifford, Tesla’s second-biggest investor after Elon Musk. The German company has now been valued at over 1 billion dollars.

German flying taxi attracts the big bucks

Baillie Gifford, which is one of the largest private investment firms in the UK and currently holds stakes in Amazon, Tesla, Airbnb, Spotify and SpaceX, has invested an eye-watering 35 million dollars (31 million euros) in the German startup Lilium, which has now attracted more than 375 million dollars in investments to date.

Speaking on the new investment, Christopher Delbrück, Lilium’s chief financial officer, said, “We look forward to working closely with Baillie Gifford as we speak to bring emission-free, regional air mobility to the market as early as 2025.”

Flying into the future

Lilium is an aviation company, based in Munich, that has designed a five-seater electric passenger jet, aimed at shuttling people cross-country. The company reached a milestone last year when it successfully completed the Lilium Jet’s maiden flight and looks set to revolutionise transport as we know it.

The electric jet, which releases zero carbon emissions, can travel at 300 kilometres (186 miles) an hour on just one charge and can journey from Munich to Frankfurt in just over an hour. The taxis would be flown by a pilot at first, but there are plans to make them autonomous in the not-too-distant future.

By 2025, the company hopes to roll out its taxi service, which will be accessible via an app. Passengers will be picked up from designated take-off spots and taken to their destination, with short-distance rides rumoured to cost the same as a trip in a regular taxi or Uber.

Thumb photo credit: Lilium