After just two weeks, the Hybrid Air Vehicle's Airlander crowdfunding ambition to reach £2m in just one month has reached £1m.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) , the manufacturers of Airlander are now more than half-way towards their £2m target and on the home straight.
This is now the largest UK manufacturing or engineering equity crowdfunding target to date.
The funds, which are being raised on equity crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube, will be directly used to get the Airlander to first civilian and UK flight. To celebrate this event, Hybrid Air Vehicles are announcing additional rewards for investors from today.
HAV CEO Steve McGlennan HAV has said, “We are very proud to have raised over £1m through Crowdcube in only 2 weeks. This money, added to our existing resources and more than £5m of grant funding we have won from the EU and UK Government recently, gives us the platform we need to take Airlander to the next stage.
“The crowdfunding is only open for another 30 days and we fully expect that to meet its target of £2m, especially as we are in discussions with a number of large investors. We are on target to fly Airlander in the UK and the crowd is playing its part in making that happen.”
New Rewards & Invitations:
- Now available for investors of >£2,500 is an Invitation to a VIP Celebration event for first official UK flight of Airlander (previously only available for investments >£10,000).
- Free membership of Hybrid Air Vehicles’ supporters club, the Airlander Club for investors of >£100, which can be gifted to others.
About Hybrid Air Vehicles:
Founded in 2007, Hybrid Air Vehicles is the company behind the innovative Airlander range of hybrid aircraft. They utilise new aerospace technology that combines the best of the characteristics of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters with lighter-than-air technology to create a new breed of hyper-efficient aircraft, with a significantly lower carbon footprint and operating cost than other forms of air transport.
The Airlander 10 is designed to stay airborne for up to five days at a time to fulfil a wide range of communication and survey roles, as well as cargo carrying and tourist passenger flights .
Hybrid Air Vehicles are in receipt of a £2.5m InnovateUK grant in conjunction with two other UK aerospace SME’s (BBSR and Forward Composites) and the Universities of Cranfield, Liverpool and Sheffield. The remaining funding is from private individuals.
Hybrid Air Vehicles’ existing shareholders include PLC Chairmen, Business Angels and Professional Investors. The company currently has around 150 shareholders who collectively have invested over £9m in the firm since its formation in 2007.
HAV have benefited from £60m of investment in the aircraft from the US Government and a total of over £5m of UK Government grants and a Horizon 2020 fund worth €2.5m. This Crowdfunding equity raise values the company at £36m after the fundraising has closed.
Confirmed this month, HAV won funding from Horizon 2020 worth €2.5m. This will be directed towards helping create a regulatory framework to allow Airlander to be used in Europe. In February 2015, HAV secured a Government grant of up to £3.4m through the Regional Growth Fund (subject to due diligence). HAV are using Crowdcube’s platform to raise £2m in order to match fund the RGF (there will be potential to over fund should there be demand). The money will be used for returning Airlander to flight.
