Lilium Aviation

The Tech industry is at an interesting stage right now, where ideas of the 1950’s & 1960’s finally seem to turn into reality. Autonomous driving, AI, Robotics, and two-seated electric vertical take-off and landing jets are topics startups are working on today!

Wait a minute ....... A two-seated electric vertical take-off and landing jet .....WHAT???wait a minute! A Lilium Aviation is an aerospace start-up in the area of Munich coming out of the UnternehmerTUM, a center for Innovation and Business Creation at the Technical University of Munich (Unternehmertum, 2017). It will feature a range of more than 500 km and a maximum speed of 450 km / h. Lilium is joining the electric movement with the mission of reducing harmful emissions and solving congestion. Pretty much the Tesla for the air! The Jet is powered by 36 directable, ducted electric fans, which are built into the wings and front pods to power the jet (Techcrunch, 2016). Also, it will allow the owner to drive up to 60km / h on the roads, so the German Autobahn will not fully lose its usefulness. ;)

Here is a first look at the life-sized Lilium Jet prototype:

Source: Lilium Aviation

Who would invest in such a fic business model, you might ask. Actually, Lilium Aviation has raised a €10m Series A funding round with Atomico, the leading European venture capital firm based in London at the end of 2016. Not only have they received a financial boost, but with Niklas Zennström, founder of Skype and Atomico, they have a very experienced and well-connected entrepreneur and mentor. Well, that makes Lilium Aviation actually one of the hottest startups in Munich at the moment! Take a minute and check out their flying demos. It is truly impressive to see how smooth it takes off and maneuvers in flight. I can totally see myself flying in one of the jets, can you?

The reason why I find Lilium Aviation business model so exciting is its disruptive potential.

Let me be more specific and give you a chance to envision it more closely. Imagine, you wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee and walk, drive, fly to work. Lilium advertises an enlargement of the human living radius by 3x. Work does not restrict people to live in the city anymore. Two hour drives to work become a 15 minutes’ flight. Traffic jams will be reduced, if not eliminated. Rent and house prices will adjust accordingly to lessened demand. Also, it will be the source of new business models of transportation around it. If Lilium would include autonomous flying, then

Let’s be realistic! The monetization of Liliums Jet will take many years, also there are hundreds of open questions concerning safety, regulations etc., and don’t forget to think about all the legal and ethical issues of who is or isn't allowed to fly! Right, I agree that there are many open points of discussion and questions, but based on the technological development and the strong business network, I believe that Lilium Aviation and it’s strong engineering team can pull it off. At the end, time will tell but, as tech - lovers, don't we all want them to succeed?

Possibly, in the near future, I will sit in my own Lilium Jet on the way to Mallorca! Munich ------> Mallorca 1500 km.…........ Shit, I guess we need stronger batteries!!!

References:

Lilium Aviation raises €10m Series A funding round with Atomico. (2017). Medium. Retrieved 24 January 2017, from https://medium.com/@Lilium.Aviation/10million-funding-b49addcdfa71#.nd039urcj

Samavati, S. (2017). Lilium Aviation raises €10 million from Atomico for vertical take-off electric plane - Tech.eu. Tech.eu. Retrieved 24 January 2017, from http://tech.eu/brief/lilium-jet-secures-10-million/

Shieber, J. (2017). European VCs are going to make flying cars a reality. TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 January 2017, from https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/05/atomico-backs-backs-new-vertical-take-off-and-landing-flight-developer-lilium-aviation/

UnternehmerTUM | Innovation - Gründung - Finanzierung. (2017). Unternehmertum.de. Retrieved 24 January 2017, from https://www.unternehmertum.de/index.html