Vertical Aerospace funded for 2025 as final prototype under construction
March 12, 2025
Vertical Aerospace is targeting wing-borne flight of its VX4 eVTOL in the next three to six months, revealed CEO Stuart Simpson, confirming that the company has secured funding through 2025. With construction underway on the third and final prototype aircraft, Vertical is also looking to potential military operations as part of its future use case portfolio.
Wing-borne flight within the coming months
Speaking at the Bristol-based developer’s Q4 earnings call, Simpson reiterated his confidence in Vertical’s pathway to certification in 2028, stating: “we remain the only company with a set of transparent, challenging, but only deliverable metrics”. With flight testing (undertaken at the company’s test HQ at Kemble) in full swing, Vertical has initiated the build of its third and prototype aircraft at GKN’s Global Technology Centre; identical to its second full-scale demonstrator and one which will help “accelerate flight test progress significantly over the coming year”. Production of the inaugural certification-standard aircraft will commence later this year.
To date, over 30 piloted flights have been achieved since the Vertical’s second full-scale prototype commenced its new campaign in July 2024, capturing over five million data points across 35,000 parameters. To date, Vertical is one of only two eVTOL developers to have achieved piloted thrust-borne flight. Once extended CAA approval of the aircraft’s current Permit to Fly is granted, Vertical is targeting wing-borne flight in the coming three to six months. Reasserting his belief in the VX4’s configuration, Simpson continued: “Over the past months, we’ve seen the industry reach an inflection point driven by physics where the wing tilt rotor is proving to be the winning design”.
Fully funded through 2025
Vertical’s optimism also extends into its current funding landscape, with Simpson explaining that Vertical has seen “significant investment into the sector” in recent months. Since launching its ‘Flightpath 2030’ plan in November 2024 (targeting cash break-even by the end of the decade), Vertical has converted $130 million of debt to equity through an investment agreement with Mudrick Capital, alongside completing a $90 million upsized raise (including sourcing $60 million of new investment).
“This secures our funding through 2025,” confirmed Simpson, adding that Vertical’s net cash use for 2024 was approximately $100 million. This year’s ongoing operations are expected to cost slightly more, however, in the region of $110-$125 million.
Although Simpson is coy on the cost of achieving certification “I have no doubt in my mind that we will be the most efficient through [the route to certification and cash breakeven] period,” he stated. “In fact, we are the only people talking open and publicly about clear metrics for the year, certification in 2028, cash breakeven in 2030. And again, it’s about the clarity of our certification pathway which means we can plan with some certainty”. Vertical’s Flightpath 2030 strategy indicated that EASA certification was now expected in 2028 rather than previous aspirations of 2026.
First use cases and military applications
With Vertical possessing what Simpson termed “a clear roadmap for [its] plan to lead the sector by the end of the decade,” further details have materialised on the initial aircraft’s potential payload characteristics. Comparing the VX4 as akin to travelling in a Bentley versus a Fiat 500, “we will launch our aircraft with four comfortable business class seats and 30kg of luggage capacity per passenger,” continued Simpson. Additionally, reconfiguring the existing airframe to have six economy seats (with minimal rectification) is something he believe is “something that no one else in the industry can do,” as reverse-engineering a “higher level of safety or a larger cabin is almost impossible”.
First use cases are likely to be airport transfers down to central business type routes, with Simpson adding: “We have a best in class aircraft for safety and capacity for both luggage and passengers”. Although Vertical closed its order book around two and a half years ago (with Simpson elaborating “we felt we have a great set of customers to work with,” this could be opened up again later this year.
Finally, Vertical revealed that the VX4’s potential within military applications is also an area of ongoing consideration, having “had a team stood up and working on this for some time” alongside “deep discussions with the UK MoD”. However, “given the current climate,” Vertical is now “looking wider” than domestic partnerships – with Simpson concluding: “I think we’re incredibly well positioned in this and there’ll probably me more to say over the coming twelve, eighteen months”.
