Launched in 2022 after having raised $600 million of funding, a Volocopter was an all-electric, multirotor aircraft designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter. Most models were designed to carry a pilot and two passengers over short urban routes (i.e. urban taxis) making it hard to become profitable compared to competitors of larger alternatives such as Joby. In addition, certification took longer than expected and they were unable to secure a $100M government loan, leading to insolvency since investors were unwilling to coninue funding a capital-intensive pre-revenue company
