Ascendance Flight Technologies, a Toulouse-based company developing ATEA, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft powered by STERNA, its proprietary hybrid-electric technology stack, has closed a €10M funding round backed by Habert Dassault Finance, Celeste Management, M Capital, Kima Ventures and IRDI. The round also includes some senior leaders from the industry and international entrepreneurs.
Putting the company on the right financial track to certification and commercialization, Ascendance states that it as attracted top tier financial investors. This successful funding round follows the announcement of the high-profile board: former Safran Chairman Jean-Paul Herteman, former Executive Committee member at Renault Jean-Christophe Kugler, and former Head of the Airbus E-Aircraft Program Agnès Plagneux-Bertrand.
With the injection of funds, the company plans to expand its product development capabilities, notably through demonstrators. According to Jean-Christophe Lambert, co-founder and CEO of Ascendance Flight Technologies, “This successful round of funding will allow us to focus on fullscale prototypes and patents in order to accelerate the development and industrialization of our technologies and products. We will also continue to recruit the best talents to shape a team that will impact tomorrow’s clean aviation. So far, we are on schedule in the development of our disruptive hybrid-electric technologies. Recent technological achievements, our endorsement by renowned industrial figures such as our Board members and Robert Lafontan, the signing of a longtime partnership with Capgemini Engineering and successful testing campaigns confirms that the company is on the right track.”
The start-up, created in 2018, was founded by four former team members of the E-Fan Program. Confronted with the lack of sustainable solutions in aeronautics, they were convinced electric-hybrid propulsion to be the appropriate response. Their vision became ATEA, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL), and STERNA, its proprietary hybrid technology stack. The first public flights of the aircraft are scheduled for 2024, using the occasion of the Paris Olympics.