Dream Chaser lands record hybrid eVTOL round, nears $110M total raised
What's the deal? Dream Chaser Aerospace TechnologyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has closed a Series A extension worth hundreds of millions of yuan, led by Hangzhou Industrial Group and its subsidiary Hangzhou Low-altitude Economy Co., Ltd.Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → The Hangzhou-based startup develops hybrid tilt-rotor electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
By the numbers: It is the largest single round since the company's founding and a record for China's hybrid eVTOL sector. Total funding to date is nearly 800 million yuan, or roughly $110 million.
Who's backing it? Follow-on investors include Xiaoshan Venture Capital Fund, Caitong CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Buhu Venture Capital, Qianhai Ark, and SDIC Taikang TrustDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Long-term shareholder Aviation Investment Fund joined for a fourth consecutive round, and Xiaochi CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → made an over-subscribed follow-on for a third.
Who's building it? Founder and chief executive officer Cai Wenkuan, a post-90s Tsinghua University graduate, holds bachelor's and master's degrees and has nearly 20 years of aviation R&D and systems engineering experience. The company has grown quickly in four years.
Why now? In June, Dream Chaser's headquarters settled in the Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, becoming Hangzhou's first eVTOL complete-aircraft headquarters project. Cai said Xiaoshan offers "a complete industrial ecosystem, rich application scenarios and efficient government services."
The signal: The round shows Zhejiang state-owned capital moving in force on the low-altitude economy, which China increasingly treats as a strategic sector alongside new energy vehicles. Hangzhou Industrial Group, listed among the Top 500 Chinese Enterprises for eight consecutive years since 2018, is using the deal to anchor a local low-altitude industrial cluster.
Read more: eu.36kr.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
