ZeroAvia raises $116m in funding round

The UK Infrastructure Bank joined the round as a cornerstone-level investor alongside Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and NEOM Investment Fund (NIF). The Series C round will help ZeroAvia attain certification for its first engines and advance R&D that will scale the hydrogen-electric propulsion technology for larger aircraft. The funding also supports the company’s growth plans in the UK.

In a statement, Val Miftakhov, founder & CEO, ZeroAvia said: “ZeroAvia has grown rapidly in the UK as we have worked to deliver two major historic milestones in aerospace engineering as we look to preserve the benefits of flight through clean propulsion. 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. We are looking forward to working with UKIB over the next few years.” 

According to ZeroAvia, aviation contributes the equivalent of over 38 million tonnes of CO2 from international and domestic journeys starting and ending in the UK. Furthermore, around a quarter of UK carbon emissions are predicted to come from aviation in 2050. This funding raise will help support the government’s target to decarbonise aviation by 2050 by developing new clean propulsion technologies that can be flying between UK airports this decade.    

Ian Brown, head of Banking & Investments at the UK Infrastructure Bank, said: “This is a great example of the Bank supporting a first-of-a-kind technology that has real potential to have a telling impact on carbon emissions and help position the UK at the forefront of a developing green hydrogen ecosystem.

“Aviation and hydrogen are sectors that need significant private investment to get to net zero. 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.” 

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, AP Ventures and Amazon Climate Pledge Fund also participated in the funding round.