$10m · Seed · Transportation · London, UK
Skyfly Technologies, the British developer of electric and hybrid-electric vertically capable aircraft, has closed $10m in seed funding led by HICO Investment Group, with participation from Archangel. The company says the capital will complete certification of its two-seat Axe aircraft, expand its team and production capacity in the UK and US, and accelerate the hybrid propulsion system behind its planned Longbow unmanned variant.
Certification is the route to revenue
The Axe is designed for private owners rather than an airline-operated urban air-taxi network. It can take off vertically, then use its wings in forward flight; Skyfly's order page lists a base price of £295,000 plus VAT. The company reports more than 100 prototype flights and 61 customer orders, with first deliveries planned for 2027. Those are demand signals, not completed deliveries: the aircraft remains a flying prototype and still needs certification before customers can receive production units.
That makes this round less about proving that the airframe can fly and more about converting a tested prototype into a regulated, repeatable product. Skyfly says the FAA's updated MOSAIC framework now admits electric propulsion, multiple motors and vertical take-off within the Light Sport Aircraft category. If certification proceeds as planned, the rule change gives the Axe a defined route to private ownership with a simpler operating category than commercial passenger eVTOL services. The commercial work is therefore coupled: Skyfly must finish certification while building production and support capacity for customers on both sides of the Atlantic.
The order book can help demonstrate demand, but it also raises the cost of delay. Aircraft buyers need more than an airframe: training, maintenance and dependable parts support become part of the proposition once deliveries begin. The seed capital gives Skyfly room to build that operating layer alongside the certification programme rather than treating production as a step that starts only after approval.
A platform beyond one aircraft
Skyfly is also widening the potential return on its propulsion engineering. In July, it opened its electric propulsion system to other aircraft manufacturers and introduced a hybrid system intended for longer-range unmanned aircraft. The new financing will accelerate Longbow, which Skyfly is developing for defence and government customers. That creates a second possible route to market for the underlying technology, but the company has not announced Longbow deliveries; its near-term execution still depends on certification, industrial capacity and turning Axe orders into aircraft in customers' hands.
Sources checked:
Skyfly funding announcement via Airframer · Skyfly company and press page · Skyfly order page · AeroTime propulsion report · Tech.eu Funding Explorer
Image: Skyfly, via the official media directory.
