Munich, December 25: Germany-based flying taxi startup Lilium recently shut down its operations and laid off nearly 1,000 employees. The layoffs were announced amid the startup's failure to get financing and exit insolvency. With this step, the company is expected to close its business permanently.

According to a report by Business Insider, Lilium layoffs affected 1,000 individuals who supported the flying taxi startup. The report mentioned that "things are not going any further" with these laid-off employees. Lilium, an electric aircraft startup, raised USD 1 billion before going public. On December 24, Lilium announced that a consortium of investors was interested in buying its subsidiaries to help the company restructure and emerge from insolvency. Tech Layoffs 2024: 539 Companies Lays Off 1,50,034 Employees This Year, Yahoo, AMD, Ola Electric and Others Latest To Let Go Staff From November to December.

Lilium Founder Dr Patrick Nathen's Message on Layoffs

 

However, Lilium founder Dr. Patrick Nathen posted on LinkedIn that the company was shutting down its operations after 10 years and 10 months. In his official post, Nathen started by crediting the company's existence to him and co-founders Daniel, Sebastian and Matthias. He said, "This is heartbreaking, and the timing feels painfully ironic." 

The Lilium layoffs affected 1,000 workers, and more than 200 workers would be laid off in the coming few days. Patrick Nathen said he was grateful for everyone who supported the company and wished everyone a peaceful and restful holiday during the turbulent times. He proudly said that Lilium was started by four of the founders with nothing but a dream, and they tried to go far with their journey despite facing hurdles. Hiring 2024: Online Job Postings Jumped 20% This Year With Over 12 Lakh Openings Amid Digital Adoption and SMB Sector Growth, Says ‘India at Work’ Report.

German-based flying air taxi startup was developing VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that could achieve 100 kilometres per hour speed; however, it was struggling for months, according to a report by TechCrunch. Despite making remarkable progress by going public in 2021 and announcing a merger with SPAC Qell, a blank-check company, Lilium was years away from delivering its flying taxis to the market. Lilium filed for bankruptcy in October after a failure to raise money from the German government. 

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 25, 2024 04:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).