The zero emissions aviation company ZeroAvia announced March 31st it raised an additional $24.3 million for the development of its fuel cells technology. British Airways is the new investor in the company. It participates together with Horizons Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Shell Ventures, Summa Equity, and SYSTEMIQ.
Together with this $24.3 million round, the total private investment of the company comes to $53 million. The total funding raised since its start in 2017 rounds up to nearly $74 million.
The Series A4 round will launch a program for the development of a 2MW hydrogen-electric powertrain for larger regional aircrafts. The investment is kickstarting ZeroAvia’s goal towards delivering zero-carbon, hydrogen- fueled flights.
The company wants to achieve commercialization of its up to 500-miles, 20-seater hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2024. ZeroAvia also targets its 50+ seat commercial aircraft to operate in five years time. The investments should accelerate the bigger vision of a 100-seater single-aisle aircraft by 2030.
The CEO of British Airways Sean Doyle said about the deal: “Innovative zero-emissions technology is advancing fast, and we support the development of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source because we believe it has the potential to enable us to reach true zero emissions on short-haul routes by 2050.”
The CEO and founder of ZeroAvia also said in a news release: “With many airlines lining up and ready to make the shift to zero-emissions, we expect to see wide-scale adoption of this technology.”
Hydrogen Fuel Cells Supported By Policy
Clean energy technologies like ZeroAvia’s zero emissions aircrafts are expected to get a significant boost in the years ahead if Congress approves the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan that President Joe Biden unveiled this week. Bill Gates, also an investor in ZeroAvia, expressed support of Biden’s new plan, saying it is necessary to build the economies we need while avoiding a climate disaster.
Attracting major investors like British Airways is proving the value of the new technology. It also points the direction of airlines to adopt hydrogen for the future of aviation.
