Ambitious Air Mobility Group (AAMG) Eyes Lilium Assets, Commits €750M to Propel European Aerospace

Munich, August 8, 2025 — In a move that could reshape the European advanced air mobility (AAM) landscape, Ambitious Air Mobility Group N.V. (AAMG) has reaffirmed its strong interest in acquiring key assets from Lilium, including intellectual property, certification infrastructure, and engineering expertise. The European investment and industrial holding company says it is ready to invest over €750 million to secure the future of Lilium’s aircraft program and build a robust job base within Europe’s aerospace sector.

AAMG, already a longtime supporter of Lilium, has previously ordered 16 of its aircraft, signaling trust in both the company’s vision and technology. With Lilium now preparing for a potential restructuring, AAMG and its partners are stepping in with an initial capital commitment of €250 million. An additional €500 million is earmarked for scaling operations across Europe and potentially beyond.

Preserving Vision, Technology, and Talent

Dr. Robert Kamp, CEO & Senior Partner at AAMG, emphasized the significance of maintaining the Lilium platform:

“We’re convinced that what has been developed here in Bavaria is globally competitive—technically, strategically, and economically. The Lilium platform represents the work of some of the world’s most talented aerospace engineers. We see enormous potential and are excited to be in a position to help realize it.”

The group’s offer reportedly includes:

• Acquisition of Lilium’s intellectual property, key physical assets, and test facilities
• Retention and redeployment of Lilium’s certification and engineering teams
• Continuation of flight testing and aircraft certification
• Establishment of a European final assembly line

Lilium’s All-electric jet technology

The Lilium jet, with it’s exclusive electric jet motor technology featuring ducted fans, offers transportation that minimizes noise pollution. These encased engines direct engine flows away from the cabin, and away from the ground during most of its flight. Having an external noise that is 62 dBA at 100 meters (roughly 300 feet), it’s significantly quieter than a helicopter (which can have about 100 dbA at the same altitude).

Securing Europe’s Place in Global AAM

AAMG is coordinating with a wide network of stakeholders—existing suppliers, regulators, and government partners—to ensure that the Lilium project remains anchored in Europe and meets the strict quality and certification standards of European aerospace.

About AAMG:

Ambitious Air Mobility Group N.V. focuses on driving sustainable transformation in aviation, with investments spanning electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, vertiport infrastructure, and ecosystem development. The group collaborates with major OEMs, technology partners, and infrastructure players to bring scalable, commercially viable AAM solutions to market.

AAMG is also partnered with Japan’s AirMobility Inc., aiming to expand into Asia-Pacific markets while coordinating global strategy.

Ambitious Air Mobility Group & NET Zero (A.A.M.G)

• A.A.M.G is a cooperation between AirMobility INC.-Japan and The Ambitious Group.
• European industrial and investment holding company focused on accelerating the sustainable transformation of aviation
• Strategic focus on electric and hybrid-electric aircraft and vertiport infrastructure

Vertiport projects:

ABC Islands – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao

UAE

South of France

Italy

Andalusia – Spain

Lilium’s Previous Situation:

In 2024, Lilium was denied funding by the German Federal government. Rather than look to the future, the German government turned their back on the technology that could have propelled the country into decades of prosperity.

Previously, Lilium was offered €50 million from the state of Bavaria if it could get a an equal €50 million backing from the German federal government. The German parliament foolishly refused. Short-sighted politicians such as Frank Schäffler of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) said at the time: “I think it is wrong to help Lilium.” Besides the FDP, the Greens were also against supporting Lilium and their eco-friendly all-electric jets, which were seen as transportation for the rich.

Others, including FDP members with ties to Bavaria, held wiser views:

“By blocking the Lilium guarantee, the Greens are showing that they lack the foresight for future technologies and Germany as a business location. While billions of taxpayers’ money are flowing into questionable projects with a green label, there is no room for real innovations such as the flying taxi project. Such decisions risk important jobs and valuable know-how moving abroad. A disappointing day for the aviation industry in Germany and Bavaria – and a setback for our business location.” – Lukas Köhler MdB, deputy chairman of the FDP Bavaria and vice-chairman of the FDP parliamentary group.

“I regret that, despite intensive negotiations within the coalition, no agreement could be reached on aid for Lilium. For the FDP faction, after in-depth discussions, the chances of federal aid outweighed the risks. The failure is not a good signal for the company, the jobs and Bavaria as a high-tech location. At the same time, the case also makes it clear that we need a clearer strategy for financing and promoting start-ups in Germany and Bavaria.” – Karsten Klein MdB, The deputy chairman of the FDP Bavaria, regional group leader and chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Budget Committee.

“Germany cannot afford to allow industrial jobs of the future to disappear…That is why we as the SPD would have liked to have given state support to this climate-neutral technology of the future. Unfortunately, there was no majority for this economic policy conviction in the current coalition.” – Dennis Rohde, Bundestag Budget Officer, and member of the Social Democratic Party.

 Lilium’s collapse would not only affect Lilium, but would cause “sustainable reputational damage to Germany as a deep-tech location” – Christoph Stresing, Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Startups

“a promising idea, electric aviation, where the whole world is looking to Germany for patents, the federal government would not be prepared to invest a minimal amount……Then another technology will leave the country ..that cannot be our goal.” – Markus Söder, Bavarian Prime Minister and and member of the political party Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU)

“We have done our homework! We are all the more surprised that things are now stuck at the federal level!…….It is primarily a question of whether we want to develop an absolutely future-oriented technology here in Germany and bring it to industrial maturity, or whether we want to leave the new technological leaps and ultimately industrialization and new jobs to others. That would be negligent.” – Markus Blume, Bavarian State Minister for Science and Arts, and member of the political party Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU).

Comments from Lilium execs below:

“Do we now want to let the electrification of aviation migrate abroad if the world’s best technology for this has been developed by German engineers? Shouldn’t even pragmatism win over ideology here? Does Germany want to buy electric aircraft in the U.S. and China in the future, just as passenger aircraft (Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed) did back then, because we didn’t have our own industry?” – Klaus Roewe, CEO of Lilium

“I am disappointed by our country’s inability to act,” Daniel Wiegand, Co-founder of Lilium and Chief Engineer for Innovation

Daniel Weigand, who had the boldness to start an electric aerospace company in Germany, said he did so because he’s “patriotic and stubborn.” Nevertheless the German federal government doesn’t support patriotism, boldness or ambitious goals. They support more of the same of what they see in the mirror: sloth, stagnation, complacency, and cowardness.

Lilium had a unique story, Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner and Patrick Nathen formed the company as engineers and PhD students at the Technical University of Munich. This was particularly special, because had it succeeded, it would have shown how those with the technical skills and vision could have reaped the rewards for themselves by starting their own company, rather than selling their brilliance and technical skills for crumbs as regular employees to a mega corporation ran by people who often have no clue about engineering and science.

Had Daniel Wiegand, and his colleagues began their company in America and made it to the point of where they had 106 confirmed orders and 600 pre-orders, it is highly doubtful Lilium would had suffered bankruptcy. Congressmen and senators from their state would have lobbied for Federal funds, Wall Street would have been salivating over the thought of having a slice of that electric pie. Instead, Archer funded largely by Blackrock-managed assets (along with Stellantis and Vanguard) and Joby funded by Toyota will have access to huge government (including military) contracts to keep them afloat with the necessary funds to back their civilian and military projects.

We started with nothing more than a shared dream, working out of a tiny shared flat room for nearly two years. Our meals were either ramen or Sebastian’s [Born] famous pizza noodles while we poured every bit of energy into building our first prototypes. I’ll never forget our first seed investment from Freigeist (formerly e42). Frank [Thelen] once said: “My heart says yes, my head says no.” That’s what it takes to take a leap of faith.
Scaling the company with visionary investors and partners, going public to secure funding for one of the most ambitious deep-tech endeavors—it’s been a ride filled with dizzying highs and soul-crushing lows. It has cost us so much, but I would do it all over again, without hesitation, 100%. – Patrick Nathen, Lilium Co-founder and Chief of Global Product Strategy

With the failures in Germany, primarily at the hands of the Green Party, it seemed (at the time) as if France would have been a better option for Lilium. eVTOL buzz previously reported of talks between the French government providing €220 million in funding for Lilium to manufacture its aircraft in France.

The French investment is a direct result of the “Choose France Summit” held on the 13^th of May at the Château de Versailles, in which Lilium was in talks with the French government regarding financial investment into the company. Lilium could utilize France’s highly developed aerospace sector, its historical pedigree and bring 850 jobs to France while securing €220 million in necessary funding from the French government.  France has a large supplier base in its aerospace industry, which would enable Lilium to acquire parts and other supplies at more competitive prices. France is also the world’s largest net exporter of electricity, with 65% derived from nuclear power, and 14% from wind and solar. Only 8% of France’s electricity is produced from fossil fuels. As France has already done with the electrification of the railways, France can power air travel with cleaner electric energy thanks to Lilium. Thus, Lilium could provide France with a green portfolio (or maybe blue, as in clean blue skies) within the aerospace sector that perfectly aligns with the French values regarding taking care of the planet. eVTOL buzz article here: click link

A false hope came during Christmas Eve 2024, when Lilium announced that an asset purchase agreement with Mobile Uplift Corporation GmbH (MUC) had materialized, and MUC which was headed by Philipp Schoeller would purchase the cash depleted Subsidiaries Lilium GmbH and Lilium eAircraft GmbH. As we reported in our article on Christmas Day, Mobile Uplift Corporation GmbH planned to “immediately” employ the majority of the Lilium employees whose contracts were terminated on December 20th 2024 under the requirements of German law, once the transaction had been finalized in early January 2025.

Nevertheless, reports in February 2025 indicated that these Lilium employees haven’t been paid their salaries, and were waiting until St. Valentine’s Day for their January paychecks. There were doubts of how much cash was actually injected into this new Lilium company, now called Lilium Aerospace GmbH. Severin Tatarczyk replaced Philipp Schoeller, and agreed to wait past St. Valentine’s day before initiating a second bankruptcy based on the hopes and promises of €150 million in funding arranged by Marian Boček, who in the presence of his lawyer assured that a portion of the €150 million will be shortly available to keep Lilium operations running and pay its salary and vendor obligations in the next few months. For reasons unknown, the funds promised by Marian Boček never materialized, and Lilium filed for a second bankruptcy, as announced on February 21st 2025.

Statement from Lilium’s Internal Comms Team, explaining the decision to proceed with the 2nd bankruptcy filing

Severin Tatarczyk’s statement (translated from German):

“Lilium Aerospace has filed for insolvency

Munich, February 21, 2025. As the funding options to secure Lilium’s future have not materialized in time, Lilium Aerospace has filed for insolvency today. While talks about alternative solutions are still ongoing, the chance for restructuring right now is highly unlikely and therefore operations will be stopped.

Giving the situation, this is deeply regretful for all employees and Lilium Aerospace thanks them for their resilience and dedication.”

Former Employees granted unemployment benefits:

Lilium was notified in June, 2025 that for the period of the 7th of January to the 31th of March 2025, the German employment office, Bundesagentur fur Arbeit (BfU) would finally agree to pay unemployment benefits known as Insolvenzgeld to Lilium employees who were out of work since December 2024. The unemployment benefits are limited to three months and capped at monthly payments of €7,500 ($8,580).

Also in June this year, former Lilium employees were able to retrieve personal belongings from the Lilium facilities in Bavaria.

A New Hope:

We will see what the future holds for Lilium as a company, its technology, and the employees of Lilium. The potential is there for a bright future of all-electric Lilium jets, and with the right investors, it can still happen. Ambitious Air Mobility Group N.V. (AAMG) has been a long-time supporter of Lilium, and has ordered 16 aircraft. Let’s wish Lilium and its employees that have remained with Lilium all the best and hope this is a new beginning for Lilium as a pioneer in the future of all-electric aviation.

More Info:

Official press release from Ambitious Air Mobility Group N.V. (AAMG): click here

Former eVTOL buzz articles about Lilium:

Lilium’s 2nd bankruptcy, the German tragedy that should have never happened: click here

Lilium’s €150 million jumpstart: click here

Lilium’s Christmas lights turn back on brighter than ever after rescue deal: click here

Hope endures for a sky with Lilium jets: click here

Lilium, manufacturer of world’s first all-electric VTOL jet, hires “Big Four” firm KPMG for mergers and acquisition process: click here

Lilium’s investment in a clean future for air travel: click here

Top 5 companies that should invest millions into Lilium right now to save the planet!: click here

The cost of lost opportunity: Germany turning its back on Lilium will cost taxpayers more than the funds Lilium is requesting: click here

Say “Oui” to the Fleur de Lys!  Lilium’s destiny in an electrified France: click here

Lilium Powers On First Lilium Jet, Marking a Major Milestone Towards MSN 1 Debut Flight: click here

Lilium, EMCJET and Galaxy FBO bring the future of air travel to Houston!: click here

Lilium’s solution to noise pollution: Bringing serenity to the scenery of the French Riviera: click here