Vertical Aerospace
UK eVTOL developer building the Valo, a four-passenger electric air taxi targeting UK type certification in 2029, now reviewing strategic alternatives.
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Vertical Aerospace
Vertical Aerospace is a Bristol, UK-based developer of the Valo, an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft for a pilot and four passengers. The Valo is its production design and followed the VX4 prototype. The company trades on the NYSE as EVTL. It is pursuing UK Civil Aviation Authority certification to the SC-VTOL enhanced category, targets UK type certification in 2029, and remains pre-commercial.
Key Products
- Valo - Four-passenger eVTOL with a wing and tilting electric propulsion. Vertical quotes a cruise speed of 150 mph and a range of 100 miles; these are company figures for an aircraft not yet certificated. Vertical says it completed piloted transition flight in 2026 and flew demonstrations at Farnborough. A hybrid-electric demonstrator retrofit is due in the first half of 2027.
- VX4 - The earlier prototype, used for the piloted test programme that shaped the Valo.
Business and Funding
Vertical became public through a 2021 SPAC transaction and has repeatedly needed outside capital. In August 2026 it raised about $100 million and reported about $134 million in cash, expecting net outflows of about $150 million over the following twelve months and a runway of at least twelve months. On 24 September 2026 it began a review of strategic alternatives, including strategic and financial partnerships, with Jefferies as adviser; it set no timetable and gave no assurance of a transaction. Fabrice Brégier, the former head of Airbus’s commercial aircraft business, is chair.
On 25 September 2026 it opened a £1.5 million, 60,000 sq ft Aircraft Assembly Centre at Cotswold Airport, beside its flight test centre, to build certification-conforming aircraft from the fourth quarter of 2027 and more than 25 aircraft a year in early production. It plans to announce a full-scale factory in the fourth quarter of 2026. It counts about 1,500 pre-orders, which are conditional and are not sales.
Why It Matters
Vertical is one of the few publicly traded European eVTOL developers with a full-scale aircraft programme. On its own figures its cash runs into August 2027, before its first certification aircraft is built and well before its 2029 certification target. The central question is whether it can fund the rest of certification and satisfy the regulator’s certification basis; company targets are kept distinct from reported results.
