Lilium (US Units)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Lilium's US operations were part of the German eVTOL developer's global push for the Lilium Jet — a fully electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft designed for zero-emission regional air mobility. The company listed on NASDAQ via SPAC in 2021 at a $3.3 billion valuation and built commercial partnerships across the US, China, Brazil, the UK and the Middle East, including an order pipeline of over 780 jets, as it worked toward first manned flights in 2025 and EASA certification by 2026.
02 / Lilium (US Units) FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors
Lilium N.V.'s 24 Oct 2024 Form 6-K stated it could not raise sufficient funds to continue German operating subsidiaries after the German parliament budget committee declined a €50M guarantee for a contemplated €100M KfW convertible loan and Bavaria did not agree a matching guarantee; subsidiaries were overindebted and facing Zahlungsunfähigkeit. That parent insolvency funding failure preceded the Nov 2024 shutdown of Lilium's U.S. commercial operations.
KfW loan guarantee and Bavaria support failed; private funding that depended on them did not close.
Company stated it could not raise sufficient additional funds to continue principal operating subsidiaries.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
On 12 Nov 2024 Lilium VP of Commercial, Americas Matthew Broffman posted that Lilium was closing its U.S. operations and that it was his final day, after leading the U.S. commercial team.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
After the German subsidiaries entered self-administration in October 2024, the December 2024 Mobile Uplift rescue deal collapsed when its funds never materialized.
- 02
Lilium filed for insolvency again in February 2025 and ceased operations.
- 03
The US units went down with the parent; no asset recovery figures for US stakeholders were disclosed.