Flying Taxi: The ePlane Company Scored $5 Million for Electronic Planes

The ePlane company has secured $5 million in a pre-series investment, with the goal of eliminating traffic by developing electric planes for short-range intra-city commuting. The extra funds will be utilized to increase top-tier talent recruitment, stimulate research and development, and sustain airworthiness provision and certification.

The investment is led by deep-tech venture company speciale invest and EV/climate oriented fund Micelio. A group of investors includes Naval Ravikant, java capital, Prashant Pitti (co-founder of EaseMyTrip), UETC (University of Tokyo Edge Capital), an ancient capital, info edge, thought ventures, and first cheque. The round included VC as well.

The money will be used to acquire top-tier personnel, progress R&D, and continue to achieve airworthiness provision and launch certification for the firm, which is betting on eradicating traffic by creating electric planes for short-range intra-city commutes.

Satya Chakravarthy, an Aviation engineering professor, and his student Pranjal Mehta developed the ePlane company in 2017 and launched it in 2019. The business wants to construct the world’s smallest flying taxi, the e200 for people as well as freight transportation to help decrease traffic congestion, emissions from ground transportation, and the danger of road accidents. The e200’s lab-scale prototype has flown successfully, and the company plans to build a full-scale version in April 2022.

“The freight aircraft is slated to be put out by February 2023, and the passenger version is projected to be pushed out by December 2024,” said Satya Chakravarthy, Co-founder of the ePlane company and an IIT-m professor who has been on vacation since last year to work on this project.