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Wednesday, 6 September 2017

Investors pouring money into urban flight

“Meet George Jetson”: Lilium, a German startup formed two years ago, is planning on bringing the Jetsons’ fully electrical flying taxi to life. The company launched a successful test flight back in April (watch, runtime: 1:53), with its two-seater plane reaching a speed of 300 km/h at traveling at a range of 300 km. The company is at the forefront of an investment bonanza in urban air travel. Lilium has raised USD 100 mn in total to develop a five-seater from the likes of Chinese social media giant Tencent, Skype founder Niklas Zennström’s Atomico, and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams’ Obvious Ventures, the FT reports. The company faces stiff competition, as German carmaker Daimler joined a consortium to invest EUR 25 mn in Volocopter, while Uber and Airbus also pouring into their own rival products.

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