An online effort to help bring the all-electric e-volo Volocopter to market has set new fundraising records, the company said last week. A half-million euros were raised in the first 2 hours and 35 minutes, setting a new record for the European Union. The effort continued on to raise 1.2 million Euros in just under three and a half days. “Never before has so much money been raised through crowd-funding in so little time in Germany,” the company said. E-Volo used Seedmatch, a site dedicated to fundraising for start-ups.
“The raised money will now serve to optimize the 1st prototype of the VC200 and, as part of the testing scheme, conclude a comprehensive test-flight program for this new aviation category,” the company said on its website. “After that, we will build a weight-optimized prototype of the VC200, near series-production conditions, and finalize type-certification and mold construction for series production. Thus, all conditions for market entry are met.” The two-seat prototype flew for the first time last month. No pilot was on board; the aircraft was flown remotely inside an arena. The company says the aircraft will be stable, reliable and easy to fly, and will be ready for deliveries by 2016.
