Vaeridion Fundraising to Build Microliner Prototype

Vaeridion is chasing further funding to build the first prototype of its Microliner regional aircraft, an all-electric concept it hopes will make its first flight some time in 2027. This move towards industrialization follows last month’s opening of a new battery center at Germany’s Oberpfaffenhofen airport, which the startup says “really symbolizes a new phase” of development.

“This facility is a clear enabler for the first flight,” Vaeridion co-founder and CEO Ivor van Dartel told AIN. “In this location we will build and test hardware, ultimately all the way to our first aircraft.”

According to the German start-up, its first completed aircraft will be a conforming prototype rather than a technology demonstrator. Its engineering team is currently in the process of completing a preliminary design review for the nine-seat commuter.

With publicly disclosed partners including GKN Aerospace, electric propulsion specialist Evolito and MT-Propeller already onboard, the process of further fundraising “would allow us to contract the next stages all the way up to flying hardware,” van Dartel explained. A pending application for the European Union Innovation Fund development assistance program would focus on supporting industrialization, with an initial factory at Oberpfaffenhofen targeting between 40 and 50 aircraft builds a year.

This funding application is backed by the European Investment Bank, and van Dartel explained that “the EIB’s advisory support brings in scale-up expertise on topics like project structuring, risk management, and access to public and private funding.” Nevertheless, van Dartel reiterated that Vaeridion’s team of over 80 people remains “very much in execution mode” alongside fundraising efforts.

Although he acknowledged a “sobering up” among electric aviation investors who are potentially “more careful” regarding novel propulsion technology, “the rules of the game are still the same,” he maintained. “Some investors have invested [in Vaeridion] four times in a row already… so I think no matter what is going on in the outside world, good companies will continue to get good funding.”

Battery Manufacturing 

Central to Vaeridion’s strategy is its battery manufacturing facility, procured from defunct eVTOL developer Lilium’s insolvency administrators and formally opened in March. “We were one of the very few parties who wanted to use the building in its current state,” said van Dartel, adding that without the acquisition, “we would not have been in a position to have had such a facility at this moment in time.”

The Microliner’s single-propeller multi-engine, all-electric setup combines a proprietary electrical system with a lithium-ion Molicel battery. Vaeridion is aiming to offer up to 400 kilometers (216 nm) of range excluding reserves, with batteries expected to last at least a few thousand cycles before they’re replaced. A key upcoming milestone is to test the battery in flight, with Vaeridion looking at – among other options – the UpLift Dornier 328 flying testbed. A ‘copper bird’ test rig at Oberpfaffen near Munich will also allow Vaeridion to validate and test failure scenarios on the ground.

Crucially, van Dartel believes that the viability of existing battery technology – combined with an optimised aircraft design – supports Vaeridion’s “viable and realistic vision.” The company is targeting EASA Part 23 certification by the end of the decade, with launch operator ASL Group to start commercial operations shortly after. “We intend to be the first [electric regional aircraft] to market commercially, and the first to be on the market commercially will have a very big advantage – especially if you’re able to industrially scale, which is what we’re setting out to do right now,” concluded van Dartel.