What do they do?
Bedford-based Hybrid Air Vehicles designs and develops hybrid aircraft. The Airlander, Hybrid Air Vehicle’s flagship model, has been described as ‘the biggest Aerospace story since Concorde’. Looking ostensibly like a zeppelin, the Airlander is designed to omit less pollution, operate a better fuel economy, and offer greater cargo-carrying capabilities than any other commercial flying vehicle.
Founded in 2007, Hybrid Air Vehicles is one of very few companies to have raised over £1m equity investment through the crowd.
“The response from the investing community is amazing, and it’s great that the Great British public is backing this Great British engineering innovation. We are delighted to have broken through the magic million mark”, says Financial Director Hwfa Gwyn.
This isn’t the first time we’ve blogged about Hybrid Air Vehicles either; as we disclosed in 5 Superstar Angel Investors, the company lists Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickenson as an investor. An avid pilot himself, Dickenson invested £250k into Hybrid Air Vehicles back in March 2015.
Key players:
1) Stephen McGlennan, CEO
2) Nick Allman, Programme Director
How much did they raise?
Hybrid Air Vehicles raised £1.25m through Crowdcube. The company raised 250% of its initial £500k target, attracting 1462 investors and parting with 2.22% equity.
Which companies are they up against?
Electroflight
Headed-up by founder and ex-concorde engineer Roger Targett, Electroflight is another UK aerospace company working to disrupt traditional passenger aircraft design.
With plans to demonstrate “the first high performance, battery powered, electric aircraft using the most recent of these technologies”, Electroflight recently completed an unannounced £400k equity fundraising at a valuation close to £2m.
Sycamore Aviation
Durham-based Sycamore Aviation offers full aircraft decommissioning and recycling services, including parts removal, re-certification, and inventory management.
Back in 2013, the company achieved a £616k valuation after securing £750k investment from the North East Growth Plus Fund.