Czech developer of hybrid VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft, Zuri has raised a further €3 million investment in its recently concluded pre-Series A funding round, bringing the fundraise to €4.4 million.

Founded in 2017, Zuri aims to transform Advanced Regional Air Mobility with hybrid VTOL aircraft powered by Sustainable Aviation Fuelv(SAF). 

By combining vertical takeoff and landing capabilities with efficient wing-borne flight, Zuri’s aims to offer a sustainable, high-performance solution for point-to-point, mid-range air travel. 

According to Michal Illich, Founder of Zurim:

With the funds raised, we can now confidently accelerate the next stage of our development – building our next-generation technology demonstrator, TD 2.0.”

Building on the success of its first-generation, 11-meter demonstrator, which has already completed flight testing, TD 2.0  evolves Zuri’s tech in three critical areas:

• Hybrid Powertrain: By Integrating a hybrid propulsion system Zuri combines electric and internal combustion technologies to deliver extended range, operational flexibility, and reduced environmental impact.

• Full Flight Mode Capability: Zuri’s large-scale demonstrator will operate in all flight modes — VTOL, transition, and cruise — thanks to the incorporation of tiltrotors. Zuri has successfully tested these modes in multiple subscale models.

• Improved design: the new Zuri 2.0 aircraft design, introduces advanced tiltrotors and a re-engineered tail section, significantly improving aerodynamic efficiency, stability, and overall performance.

“With TD 2.0, we’re not just making incremental improvements — we’re redefining what’s possible in VTOL mobility,” added Illich.

 “This phase of development will demonstrate the potential of our hybrid concept, bringing us one step closer to safe, efficient, sustainable, and on-demand mid-range travel.”

This round was led by Jan Barta, General Partner of Pale Fire Capital.“I have been watching Michal’s level of persistence for the last several years.” Barta says. 

“Advancing a large VTOL project and being capital constrained the whole time was an immense challenge and Michal never gave up. Those are true qualities of real founders.

This funding will now allow Zuri to scale up quickly and one can say, actually in the literal sense, the sky is truly the limit here.”

The round also included contributions from notable angel investors, such as Boris Renski (US founder of FreedomFi and co-founder of Mirantis), Matej Turek’s 10X fund, and a group of investors from Europe and the US.

WIth the new funding, Zuri is expanding its team to accelerate progress toward delivering hybrid VTOL solutions. The company is hiring across multiple disciplines, including aerospace design, project management, electrical engineering, and software development. 

US leads the way as European eVTOL industry stumbles

It’s been an interesting year for aviation. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  released the final regulations for tiltrotors and VTOL aircraft, including electric variants, the first new class of aircraft approved in 40 years. Further, in the US, Archer Aviation obtained FAA approval to launch commercial operations in 2026 and has expanded its focus to military applications with an exclusive deal with defense contractor Anduril to develop military aircraft.

However, in Europe, German eVTOL company Lilium announced that two of its subsidiaries filed for insolvency following unsuccessful talks with state and federal governments to solve its financial crisis. There’s a lot that needs to happen to shore up a competitive European eVTOL industry.

Stay tuned for an upcoming in-depth interview with Zuri.

Lead image: Zuri.