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Electric aircraft startup Lilium may have ceased operations a year ago, but its insolvency filing wasn\u2019t quite the end of the German-based company. <\/p>\n
There were multiple failed attempts to restructure the company, including a last-ditch effort by Mobile Uplift Corporation, a company set up by investors from Europe and North America, to acquire the operating assets of the startup\u2019s two subsidiaries. Ultimately, a bankruptcy administrator put the company\u2019s assets through a competitive bid process. <\/p>\n
Now, some of its tech will live on over at Archer Aviation, which beat out Ambitious Air Mobility Group and U.S. based Joby Aviation with the winning bid<\/a> of \u20ac18 million ($21 million) for all 300 of Lilium\u2019s patent assets. Joby Aviation confirmed it participated in the bid.<\/p>\n Lilium, which was founded in 2015, was developing a vertical take-off and landing aircraft with speeds of up to 100 km\/h. The company raised more than $1 billion from investors before going public in 2021 on the Nasdaq Exchange via a reverse merger with a blank-check company, SPAC Qell. While it managed to land high-profile investors like Tencent and lock in customers, including an\u00a0order for 100 electric jets<\/a>\u00a0from Saudi Arabia, it burned through cash long before it could deliver a product. <\/p>\n An Archer spokesperson said the patents span critical eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) technologies, including high-voltage systems, flight controls, ducted fans, and advanced aircraft design. The new patents represent a \u201cstrong addition\u201d to Archer\u2019s growing IP portfolio, which now totals more than 1,000 global patent assets, the spokesperson noted in an email.<\/p>\n What Archer plans to do with those patents isn\u2019t totally clear, although there are hints. Lilium\u2019s electric ducted fans would be a good application for light-sport or regional electric flight \u2014 which goes beyond Archer\u2019s original mission.<\/p>\n Archer, which went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company<\/a>, initially focused on developing an air taxi network. It added a defense program in December, which included an exclusive deal with weapons manufacturer Anduril to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric-powered VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n