The hydrogen aviation company scored £30+ million from the UK’s state-owned infrastructure investment bank.
ZeroAvia has secured a total £91.9 million ($116 million) in backing from a number of investors in Series C funding, including a whopping £32 million ($40.6 million) from the UK Infrastructure Bank, alone.
A financial boost for its hydrogen-electric engines.
The company is keen to build hydrogen-electric engines for more eco-friendly flying. This latest financial boost will help ZeroAvia to produce these engines, which will be needed to power its 19-seat aircraft for commercial flying that it plans to have ready in 2025.
“This backing by such a preeminent investor as the UK Infrastructure Bank will help us deliver the first commercial zero-emission flights, and help the UK realise substantial export potential,” said ZeroAvia’s chief executive Valery Miftakhov. “We are looking forward to working with UKIB over the next few years.”
ZeroAvia is in a race to get the first hydrogen-powered plane in regular commercial operational. Since its inception, the company has proven itself to be a hydrogen aviation tech leader. It has achieved multiple firsts, one of these being revealing the world’s first aviation high-performance fuel cell propulsion system.
ZeroAvia has raised over $250 million in equity investments to date.
According to Miftakhov, since the H2 aviation company was founded in 2017, ZeroAvia has successfully managed to raise over £198.3 million ($250 million) in equity investments. Funding has come from a wide range of investors.
As an example, in addition to the UK Infrastructure Bank, other participants in the Series C funding round included Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, NEOM Investment Fund, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Summa Equity, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, and AP Ventures.
Meeting aviation decarbonization goals.
“Aviation and hydrogen are sectors that need significant private investment to get to net zero,” commented Ian Brown, head of banking and investments at the UK Infrastructure Bank.
“By providing confidence to investors, our equity has helped to crowd in the private investment needed for the continued development of this cutting-edge technology and should help stimulate the development and deployment of hydrogen technology across other hard-to-decarbonise sectors,” Brown added.
