VTOL Startup Lilium Appoints Christopher Delbrück as CFO

Lilium, the Munich-based startup developing a revolutionary on-demand air taxi service, today announced that, following an extensive global search, Christopher Delbrück, currently Chief Financial Officer at Uniper SE, will join Lilium as its first Chief Financial Officer (CFO) later this year.

“We are thrilled that a financial heavyweight of Christopher’s caliber is joining Lilium,” said Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and CEO. “Not only is he a world-class CFO with experience of managing very large businesses, but he combines this wealth of experience with a deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit that makes him a perfect match for Lilium,” added Wiegand.

As CFO at Uniper SE, Delbrück played an instrumental role in the listing of the company in 2016 as well as in the subsequent tripling of its share price. Prior to this he spent 14 years in various strategy, business development and top financial roles at E.ON, the German DAX-listed energy company, as well as spending four years with the Boston Consulting Group.

“In his current role, Christopher has shown his ability to grow a business that has nearly €80 billion in revenue, while maintaining a strong commitment to a lower-carbon future.

This is very much in line with our own ambitions and we look forward to growing Lilium with him onboard,” commented Wiegand.

Lilium plans to manufacture and operate the Lilium Jet as part of a revolutionary on-demand air taxi service. At the push of a button, passengers will be able to use the Lilium app to locate their nearest landing pad and plan their journey with ease. Choosing from a network of pads across cities and regions, passengers will enjoy journeys that are comparable in price with a taxi, yet four times faster.

The zero-emissions Lilium Jet, powered by 36 all-electric engines, will be capable of traveling up to 300 kilometers in just one hour, on one charge. Lilium expects to be fully-operational in various cities around the world by 2025, although trial services will start earlier than this in several locations.

Commenting on his appointment, Delbrück said:

“Opportunities to revolutionize an industry only come by once in every generation and I’m thrilled to be joining Lilium at this point in their journey.

“The urban air mobility market will see tremendous growth over the next decade and I believe Lilium has both the team and the technology to capitalise on this growth and become one of the world’s leading technology companies.

“By taking their highly-innovative technology and scaling the business that supports it, we can help make travel better for people across the world, while making genuine progress towards a more sustainable future.”

Lilium secured a $90m Series B funding round in September 2017, bringing their total capital raised to over $100m. Investors include Tencent, LGT, Atomico, Obvious Ventures and Freigeist.

The exact timing of Delbrück’s arrival with Lilium will be confirmed at a later date.

Christopher holds an Economics Diploma from the University of Kiel and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He speaks German, English and Swedish.

Lilium GmbH is a Munich-based startup developing a revolutionary on-demand air mobility service. To give wings to its vision of a world where anyone can fly anywhere, anytime, it has designed and prototyped a brand new form of aircraft that will enable it to deliver journeys that are four times faster than a taxi, yet competitive in price. Manufacturing and operating the Lilium Jet, a five-seater, fully-electric aircraft that can take-off and land vertically (eVTOL), will enable it to address a trillion-dollar market opportunity that will not only change the way people choose to live and travel but will also connect communities at a fraction of the cost of conventional high-speed infrastructure such as road and rail.

Co-founded in 2015 by four visionary founders, Daniel Wiegand (CEO), Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner and Patrick Nathen, the company has attracted more than $100m in funding from world-class investors such as Atomico, Tencent, LGT and Obvious Ventures and now employs more than 300 people.