(Bloomberg) -- Electric air taxi maker Lilium is counting on a lifeline of hundreds of millions of euros from the French and German governments in the next few months as it works to take its first model through certification and into commercial service. 

The company says it could receive €100 million ($109 million) from Germany, and as much as €250 million from France, depending on the size of the investment the firm will make in manufacturing in the country, Chief Executive Officer Klaus Roewe said. 

“We have a financing need and we are basically looking until first flight,” Roewe said in an interview in Riyadh. Roewe said the German government wants to help the company “because this is a new industry we believe in.” 

Lilium is one of several air taxi startups that surged in popularity during the pandemic-era SPAC boom, driven by the promise that they could bootstrap a new form of environmentally friendly, electric-powered commercial flight. With funding drying up and facing expensive certification processes, those startups are now desperately courting fresh investment. 

Earlier this month, Lilium entered a so-called standby equity purchase agreement with investment fund Yorkville Advisors, a step that the CEO said will offer the company a bridge till it secures government loans. 

Even if the company is able to land these loans, it would still need additional investment, and is in “intense talks” with longstanding investors and new partners to secure funding as it tries to avoid drawing on the Yorkville agreement.  

Lilium has started assembly of its second electric jet at a facility near Munich and aims to conduct the first piloted test flights later this year. Unlike some other electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, companies whose aircraft resemble large propeller-powered drones, Lilium’s design features two sets of wings that house electrically powered jets and a cabin with capacity for six passenger seats.

The German firm says it is still set to start commercial operations in mid 2026, even as US rivals Joby Aviation Inc. and Archer Aviation Inc. say they will be certified by the end of 2025 by the Federal Aviation Administration. Joby and Archer are also working with the UAE’s civil aviation authority to license their craft in the country.

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