Ampaire Secures $19M Series B to Boost Hybrid-Electric Eco Caravan Development
Californian startup Ampaire, which is developing hybrid-electric aircraft, has raised $19 million in Series B funding. This fresh capital round, which brings the total raised so far by Ampaire to $68 million, has been led by DiamondStream Partners. Other investors include the venture capital arm of two prominent airline groups, International Air Group (IAG) and Alaska Airlines, as well as a number of other venture capital firms, such as Forward Ventures, Techstars Ventures and the Autodesk Foundation Impact Fund, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund. These funds will be deployed to accelerate the commercial readiness of Ampaire's hybrid-electric AMP-H570 propulsion system, which is being retrofitted into Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft in order to halve fuel consumption (Ampaire calls the resulting hybrid aircraft "Eco Caravan"). Ampaire is also one of the startups that has been selected to take part in the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) , backed by the US government and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to advance in the development of new air mobility technologies. The startup is also working on applications of its hybrid-electric technology to power the Auxiliary Power Units (APU) used by aircraft while on the ground. RELATED Ampaire starts hybrid-electric tests in Utah as part of the eIPP program