Editor’s note: This article has been updated on May 10 after Eve Air Mobility announced that its gross proceeds from the business combination with Zanite Acquisition Corp. totaled $377 million.
Eve Air Mobility is the latest eVTOL developer to become a publicly traded company, after shareholders of Zanite Acquisition Corp. approved the merger on Friday.
Eve’s common stocks and warrants will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EVEX and EVEXW on Tuesday.
“The successful completion of this transaction is an important milestone,” said Andre Stein, Eve’s co-CEO, in a press release on Monday. “The funding raised through the transaction provides Eve with growth capital and positions Eve well to execute its development plans, aided by our ongoing strategic partnership with Embraer.”
Before the merger, Eve was expecting the deal to unlock more than a half a billion dollars, assuming none of Zanite’s shareholders redeem their shares.
The company announced on May 10 that its gross proceeds from the business combination totaled $377 million, which includes $357 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) associated with the merger.
In addition to the PIPE, Eve was originally expecting to receive $237 million in cash held in trust by Zanite, leaving a shortfall of $217 million compared with initial projections.
Previous SPAC deals with Joby, Lilium, Archer, and Vertical Aerospace also experienced shortfalls in the cash they received due to high shareholder redemptions.
Archer, for example, saw 48.5% in shareholder redemptions when it merged with Atlas Crest Investment Corp. in September. Joby and Lilium also saw around 65% in shareholder redemptions, and SEC filings related to Vertical’s merger suggest 95% of Broadstone’s shareholders chose to redeem their shares rather than remain invested in the company.
In Vertical’s cases, the company saw its initial projection of nearly $600 million in total proceeds slashed in half to $300 million because of its high shareholder redemptions.
Since confirming its SPAC deal with Zanite in December, the eVTOL company increased its PIPE by $52.3 million, with Embraer leading the overall investment and increasing its initial contribution to $185 million.
A consortium of investors, including Thales, Acciona, Space Florida, Azorra Aviation, BAE Systems, Banco Bradesco, Falko Regional Aircraft, Republic Airways, Rolls-Royce and SkyWest, contributed a total of $147 million to the PIPE. And Zanite’s sponsor contributed the remaining $25 million.
Eve is developing a five-seat eVTOL aircraft, with a targeted range of up 60 miles (96 kilometers), and cruising speeds of up to 125 miles per hour (201 kilometers per hour).
The company hopes to get type certified with the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) by the end of 2025, followed by other aviation authorities. At that point, the next hurdle for Eve would be fulfilling its non-binding letters of intent that the company has signed with 19 customers, totaling 1,825 potential aircraft orders.
In addition to developing aircraft, Eve has focused its attention on developing an urban air mobility (UAM) platform that it would use to operate its eVTOL.
Last week, Eve published a concept of operations (CONOPs) showing how UAM could be integrated in Rio de Janeiro — closing the loop on a project that had been in the works since last summer.
And in March, the company published a CONOPs detailing how air taxi services could operate in the U.K., as well as formed a consortium of companies to look into future eVTOL operations in Miami-Dade County.
Congratulations to the EVE team!