ZeroAvia secured $37.7 million in grants and venture money

ZeroAvia, a British manufacturer of zero-emission, hydrogen-fueled airplanes, announced $21.4 million in new funding in a Series A round.

The money was raised from investors led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Ecosystem Integrity Fund, with follow-on investors Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Horizons Ventures, Shell Ventures, and Summa Equity.

In addition, the company established a partnership with British Airways and received approval for new UK government funding through the ATI Programme to deliver an additional $16.3 million of non-dilutive funding breakthrough 19-seat hydrogen-electric powered aircraft that is market-ready by 2023.

Today’s announcement brings the total new funding to $37.7 million and the total funding since inception to $49.7 million.

The fundraise allows ZeroAvia to accelerate the development of its hydrogen-electric powertrain further. The Series A funds the next phase of the company’s R&D program, which focuses on developing and testing the certification-ready ZA-600 powertrain capable of flying 10-20 seat aircraft up to 500 miles. The investment comes on the heels of the company completing the UK’s first-ever commercial-scale battery-electric flight in June 2020 and the first flight of the largest hydrogen fuel cell aircraft in September 2020 as part of the innovative HyFlyer I project. ZeroAvia expects a  long-distance flight of 250 miles in the next three months.

ZeroAvia, founded in 2018 by CEO Val Miftakhov, offers the first practical hydrogen-fueled powertrain technology to replace conventional engines in propeller aircraft resulting in zero-emission and lower noise and dramatically lower fuel and maintenance costs and significant total trip cost reduction. Focused on hydrogen aviation solutions that address various markets, ZeroAvia expects to achieve commercialization as early as 2023 and demonstrate flights up to 500 miles in aircraft up to 20 seats. By 2026, ZeroAvia intends to realize flights over 500 miles range in aircraft with up to 80 seats, and by 2030 over 1,000-mile flights in aircraft with over 100 seats.