Thursday March 18, 2021
Spac IPO rumors
Is Volocopter planning to go public?
By Caspar Tobias Schlenk
Just a few days ago, the flight taxi startup Volocopter collected 200 million euros. According to estimates, however, the developers need more than three times that to build an electric air taxi. The company is still dependent on capital and therefore dares to take an unusual step.
The air taxi startup Volocopter is planning an IPO via Spac, according to Capital. During the transaction, an empty company shell that is already on the stock market takes over the German company. The so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company (Spac) and Volocopter are merging – for the startup it is a quick way to go public.
Just a few days ago, the Bruchsal company collected 200 million euros, including the industrial group Continental, the asset manager Blackrock and the venture capitalist Avala Capital. Volocopter wants to use the money to advance the development of the "VoloCity" – an electric air taxi for larger cities. In the "next few years" the startup plans to open the first routes, said managing director Florian Reuter.
A Spac IPO should follow soon, it is said from the company environment. The company did not comment on the plans when asked. Even after the large round of financing, the startup is dependent on further capital. Experts believe that the young developers will need at least $ 700 million to build an electric air taxi. So far, Volocopter has received around half of the amount from investors.
The German startup could then get this money more easily via the stock exchange, the market phase is cheap. The US competitor Joby Aviation is also going public via Spac. The buyer is Reinvent Technology Partners of Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman, valued at $ 6.6 billion. According to Bloomberg, German comrade Lilium is also in talks with a Spac buyer.
In addition to startups, industrial groups such as Airbus are also building air taxis. The providers will compete for the first commercial routes. The concepts differ, however: Volocopter is developing a multicopter with several electrically operated rotors that is more suitable for shorter distances. Other providers such as Lilium rely on wings for a glide flight. But as new patent applications show, Volocopter is also researching models with wings that can cover longer distances.
. (tagsToTranslate) economy (t) start-ups (t) mobility concepts (t) aviation