According to foreign media reports, Lilium, a German flying car start-up, said on March 30th that it would acquire Qell Acquisition Corp. through a blank check. The reverse merger is listed in the United States, valuing the combined business at $3.3 billion.
Lilium, based in (Munich), Munich, Germany, is developing electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically, providing travelers with a new way to bypass road traffic and commute between cities. Like rival Joby, Lilium will merge with a listed shell company to attract billions of dollars of capital after it has raised billions of dollars from venture capitalists. Lilium said the merger with Qell would support its goal of starting commercial operations in 2024.
Qell is led by Barry Engle, a former GM North American president. After the merger, Engle will join the board of directors of Lilium.
After showing off its five-seat fixed-wing prototype, Lilium also released a seven-seat model. From an economic point of view, the seven-seater model is completely feasible, the company said. Lilium expects intercity travel services to be its main business. The seven-seater model, which will be the company's first mass production model, will have a cruising speed of 175 miles per hour and a range of more than 155 miles.
Last year Lilium received CRI-A01 certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency, the main regulator. The company's next goal is to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. "our goal is to get certification on both sides of the Atlantic," Yves Yemsi, Lilium's chief project officer, told investors.
Lilium's rival Joby had already announced plans to merge with Reinvent Technology Partners, a US-listed shell company, in a $6.6 billion deal. Earlier this month, Florian Reuter, chief executive of Volocopter, a German flying taxi start-up, announced that the company was also planning a new round of financing. Listing through a merger with SPAC is also one of its options, he added.
