- The investor is "Team Global", a technology holding lead by high profile German/Polish tech entrepreneur Lukasz Gadowski
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AutoFlight develops and manufactures cargo “eVTOL” (electric vertical take off and landing) aircraft and employs ~300 people; aiming to double within the coming 12 months
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The investment will be used to expand its current business and initiate the development and certification of a man carrying variant according to European (EASA) safety standards
Shanghai / Berlin (November 22, 2021)
Electric vertical
aircraft (eVTOL) pioneer AutoFlight has won European technology investor
Lukasz Gadowski ("Team Global“) as a partner and investor. Team Global
is investing $100M in AutoFlight; Gadowski's company has stakes in
around a dozen startups in the aviation sector worldwide - including
drones and flight control in addition to air taxis. The financing will
be used to evolve AutoFlight’s cargo-vehicles into man-carrying
aircraft. To that effect, a certification program according to European
Aviation Safety Association (EASA) standards will be initiated. The
company will establish a European subsidiary, which likely will be
located in southern Germany.
“We are very proud and happy to join such an amazing
company like AutoFlight with a fantastic team and a great founder. Air
mobility is a beautiful nascent industry ready to grow. No need to build
more roads – that preserves resources and nature and makes our cities
more livable" said Lukasz Gadowski.
"Welcome Lukasz. That’s a big step for our company. Team
Global will help us to expand R&D, certification and operation
globally“, so Tian Yu, Chairman and CEO of AutoFlight. “At AutoFlight,
we are determined to make the change for mass individual transport in
air. Just in the past month, our autonomous passenger eVTOL proof of
concept aircraft V1500M has accomplished its maiden flight.”
Tian Yu: "The AutoFlight evtol aircraft is designed to be
safe & safer, clean & quiet, affordable & available,
comfortable & pleasant. To fulfill and deliver this vision the
colleagues from AutoFlight worked hard over the years and settled on a
configuration and business model we believe is best suited for the above
requirements. The basis of this design is a so-called „lift and cruise“
configuration - that combines superior range and safety with the
advantages of low complexity and thus high affordability and
certifiability to the highest standards of aviation safety."
AutoFlight is one of the earliest tech companies in China
to start making autonomous eVTOL, including large payload logistic and
autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Logistic UAVs were
introduced first. AutoFlight now accumulated nearly 10,000 Takeoff and
landing times and has been tested in all kinds of extreme conditions.
About Team Global
The European Tech holding company Team Global (based in Berlin) has systematically built up expertise in aviation over the past few years, gradually expanding its portfolio to about a dozen investments worldwide.
In Europe, Team Global is backing Volocopter and Zapata Racing in Europe, Archer in the USA and now AutoFlight in Asia. Further, there are investments in technology companies developing components for next generation aviation and clean energy companies - in energy generation (Seaborg, HB11, Enpal) and energy storage (Theion).
"We believe in the future of sustainable aviation and
invest in the best in each sub-segment or world region", says Lukasz
Gadowski.
About AutoFlight
AutoFlight is a global high-tech startup, born in China, specializing in developing and manufacturing autonomous aerial vehicles. AutoFlight's mission is to provide safe and reliable aerial logistic systems and urban air mobility solutions for human society. By leveraging new technologies in aviation, new material, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and 5G, AutoFlight actively drives development in eVTOL (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) industry.
AutoFlight is headquartered in Shanghai, with a passenger
flight control system research center in Europe, an operation and test
center in the U.S. The company owns a diversified eVTOL product mix,
with a focus on large scale logistic aircraft and autonomous passenger
aerial vehicles.