HT Aero (also known as Huitian), an urban air mobility (UAM) company and an affiliate of XPeng Inc., announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a consortium of investors to raise over US$500 million for its Series A capital funding. The funding round is led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital and XPeng Inc. with participation by a consortium of renowned investors, including Sequoia China, Eastern Bell Capital, GGV Capital, GL Ventures and Yunfeng Capital.
The Series A financing from a consortium of high quality investors is a strong testament to the Company’s long-term vision, technology roadmap and its market-leading R&D capability as a prominent player in one of the most promising and disruptive technologies of future mobility. It will be the largest single-tranche fundraising to date in Asia’s low-altitude flying vehicle sector.
“Our mission has always been to explore efficient, safer, and carbon-neutral mobility solutions that go beyond smart EVs. What we are seeing is the integration of the three driving forces of smart mobility – disruptive technology, new sources of energy, and mass production. We will embrace this opportunity, which is unprecedented in the history of modern transportation. The investment in HT Aero will further accelerate the build-up of our ecosystem to integrate driving and flying”, said He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of XPeng Inc.
“HT Aero’s deeply roots in proven technology and sophisticated R&D capabilities will help it jumpstart the industrialisation of flying cars,” said Guangfu Cui, partner of IDG Capital. “We believe that the flying vehicle sector will be a trillion-dollar market. The rapid technological evolution of batteries, autonomous driving and materials science provide the synergies needed to create a new paradigm for flying cars.”
“HT Aero is a visionary initiative to transform the transportation sector through a new form of mobility,” said Richard Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital. “We share HT’s vision, and its founders’ belief that investing in technological innovations that unlock greater social and environmental values is a critical path to achieving competitiveness at global scale.”
“The Series A financing will provide us with sufficient resources to advance our research and development, acquire top-tier talent, and to continue to gain airworthiness provision and certification,” said Deli Zhao, founder and president of HT Aero. “Our next-generation model will be a fully integrated flying vehicle and automobile, designed for both low-altitude air travel and road driving. We are planning for an official roll-out in 2024,” Zhao added.
Unlike many eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) companies, which target services for the business sector, HT Aero is focused on developing three-dimensional, smart and sustainable urban air mobility (UAM) solutions for individual consumers. HT Aero is one of the earliest pioneers in the flying vehicle sector, and is one of the few private enterprises in China’s aviation sector with a proven track record of safe flights. Since its foundation in 2013, it has developed five generations of intelligent electric-powered manned flying vehicles.
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