All-electric aircraft manufacturer VÆRIDION has secured €124.5 million in fresh funding, closing a €30 million Series A2 equity round.
The funding comes alongside a €94.5 million European Commission grant to industrialise its nine-passenger Microliner at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport to address severe regional route attrition caused by volatile jet fuel prices and mounting maintenance expenses.
To counteract deteriorating short-haul network economics, VÆRIDION is targeting direct operating costs below €0.40 per seat-km.
This cost base is designed to allow regional operators to price seats competitively against first-class rail tickets while maintaining operational profitability on thin routes and Public Service Obligation networks.
Designed to European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) CS-23 airworthiness standards, the clean-sheet Microliner combines modular batteries with a multi-engine, single-propeller architecture.
The aircraft is designed to achieve a 400 km range with nine passengers under Instrument Flight Rules, or up to 550 km with four passengers under Visual Flight Rules, with both passenger and cargo variants planned.
Commercial demand for the platform stands at more than 130 aircraft commitments valued in excess of €730 million from regional airlines, charter carriers, and aircraft lessors, with ASL Group (ASL) signed as the launch customer.
Fleet advisory input is provided by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and lessor TrueNoord via the airframer's market advisory committee.
Capital from the Series A2 round will fund the assembly of the first conforming prototype alongside powertrain verification.
The company opened its flight and ground-test centre at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport in March, where it completed first power-on tests of its electric motor. Engineering teams are now preparing for wind-tunnel trials and copper-bird ground-test rig integration.
Over the past 12 months, the manufacturer finished its Preliminary Design Review and finalised its second Pre-Application Contract with EASA to de-risk certification requirements.
Founder and chief executive Ivor van Dartel said: "Over the past year, we have turned the Microliner from a validated design into hardware, with exceptional capital efficiency. Our propulsion and battery technology is now being tested at our own facility in Oberpfaffenhofen. This equity round enables us to build our first conforming aircraft.
"The Commission’s selection of CAROLUS supports the next step: establishing the industrial capability for Microliner production. Building out of Europe, our mission is to make regional flying commercially viable and accessible again, in Europe and for operators worldwide."
The Series A2 equity round was led by SHIFT Invest (SHIFT) and Invest-NL (Invest-NL), lifting cumulative equity and public funding raised by the manufacturer to approximately €60 million..
