(Bloomberg) -- Vertical Aerospace Ltd. plans to raise more money following a just-concluded round, as the UK startup targets certification of its battery-powered air taxi by 2028.
The $90 million fundraising completed on Jan. 24 will take the startup to at least the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Simpson said in an interview. He declined to disclose how much more Vertical, which has spent $300 million over the past three years, was seeking to raise.
Vertical endured a rocky 2024 when it struggled to find funding to test and develop its VX4 aircraft. Founder Stephen Fitzpatrick missed a previously agreed deadline to invest $25 million into the business, forcing Simpson to scramble for alternatives.
A fresh infusion would fortify Vertical’s balance sheet as it moves forward with further testing of the VX4. The company is about to start a new phase of test flights beyond the airfield with the craft, designed to seat four passengers and one pilot. A 2023 crash of a prototype strained the company’s finances and set back its development timelines.
January’s public offering included more than $60 million from new investors and $25 million from existing backer Mudrick Capital Management. The company also brought back Dómhnal Slattery, the founder of aircraft leasing firm Avolon Holdings Ltd, as its chairman.
Vertical stopped taking orders for the VX4 about 18 months ago, said Slattery, who spoke alongside Simpson in the interview on Wednesday. The company has received tentative orders 1,500 aircraft, but will only be able to build a couple hundred in the first year of production.
“We don’t want to just brown people off by not being able to deliver the aircraft,” Slattery said. “The sales program far outstripped our ability to deliver.”
Slattery, who also founded SMBC Aviation, initially joined Vertical in 2022 as chairman and left the following year, shortly before the flight-test crash, which was caused by a faulty propeller blade. He said one factor in his return was the restructuring of a $130 million convertible loan from Mudrick that had made Vertical uninvestable.
A number of European startups also developing electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft have struggled as US-based Joby Aviation Inc. and Archer Aviation Inc. make progress toward certification and commercial flights.
Germany’s Volocopter filed for insolvency in December, Airbus SE shelved its eVTOL program last month and Lilium NV is scrambling for funding. Vertical has hired some workers from its European and US competitors, Slattery and Simpson said.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.