Volocopter will not go public via Spac after all

The Bruchsal-based air taxi company is not going public after all. This also has consequences for investors.

Volocopter has cancelled its initial public offering, as Finance Forward reported. In the summer, the company from Bruchsal had declared its intention to go public on the US technology exchange Nasdaq with the help of a Spac. To do so, the flight taxi start-up would have merged with a company already listed on the stock exchange.

"The facts and figures unfortunately make it abundantly clear in recent weeks and months that the current timing is conceivably unfavourable for a successful SPAC transaction," Volocopter said in a letter obtained by Finance Forward. It added that the IPOs of competitors had also deterred the company.

Investors are being hit hard by the IPO cancellation. Volocopter called in their loans at the end of the year. Instead of sharing in the company's profits, they will likely only get their loan back plus one percent interest.

In 2013, Volocopter launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedmatch under the name e-volo. 750 investors put contributions of between €250 and €10,000 into the air taxi company, raising a total of €1.2 million.