ZeroAvia has raised $116mn (£92mn) as it looks to accelerate its efforts to certify its first engines and advance R&D to scale clean propulsion technology for larger aircraft.
Completing its Series C funding round, it announced that the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) has joined as a cornerstone level investor alongside co-leads Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and the NEOM Investment Fund in backing ZeroAvia’s work. The UKIB joining as an investor supports the UK’s bid to be a market leader in research and development for both aviation and hydrogen, as well as supporting the UK growth plans that ZeroAvia has.
With aviation contributing almost 38mn tonnes of CO2 equivalent from international and domestic journeys that start and end in the UK, it is one of the fastest growing sectors and one of the most challenging to decarbonise. In securing this funding, ZeroAvia will be able to develop new clean propulsion technologies that can fly between UK airports this decade and support the government’s goal of decarbonising aviation by 2050.
A thriving sustainable hydrogen ecosystem, meanwhile, is set to be critical to net zero aims. If hydrogen is a success in aviation, then it can act as a catalyst for the development and rollout of wider hydrogen infrastructure. This will support the creation of a green hydrogen market in the UK and beyond. This also aligns with the UKIB’s mandate to support nascent technology and crowd in private investment against its objectives of driving regional growth and tackling climate change.
Ian Brown, Head of Banking and Investments at the UK Infrastructure Bank, said: “Aviation and hydrogen are sectors that need significant private investment to get to net zero. By providing confidence to investors, our equity has helped to crowd in the private investment needed for the continued development of this cutting-edge technology and should help stimulate the development and deployment of hydrogen technology across other hard to decarbonise sectors.”
