Skyports lands $110M for air taxi infrastructure development in Dubai

Skyports, the owner and operator of vertiports, has attracted more than $110 million in Series C funding.

The equity investment came from infrastructure and construction specialist ACS Group via its infrastructure development business Iridium, which focuses on sustainable transportation solutions.

The funding for London-based Skyports will help the company build out its vertiports in Dubai, following the announcement in February of an agreement with the Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai (RTA) and Joby Aviation. 

Existing Skyports’ shareholder, Groupe ADP, which operates airports in Paris, is also investing in the Series C round. The companies have been partners since 2019 and worked together on the development of vertiport technology and operations.

Duncan Walker, co-founder and CEO of Skyports, said, “With ACS backing, we are in the best possible position to advance commercial air taxi and electric drone services around the world.

“Investment from a world-class transport infrastructure leader serves as an endorsement of Skyports’ initiatives and underscores the immense potential of the market. Having ACS INFRA as a substantial shareholder in the company, together with their significant cash investment, puts Skyports in a market-leading position, which will allow us to continue growing and enabling new aviation services.”

Nuria Haltiwanger, CEO of IRIDIUM, who joins Skyport’s board as chairperson, said, “We are proud of our new partnership with Skyports, the leader in vertiport development, and the role we will be able to now play in the new and growing advanced air mobility [AAM] market. We are eager to bring our knowledge of large-scale infrastructure development and construction to help grow Skyports and the overall AAM market. We are looking at how Skyports drone services’ expertise will help us to bring further efficiencies to our existing asset management, construction and mining businesses in the group. This investment in Skyports is a critical step in our strategy of further expansion in new generation infrastructure, particularly in sustainable mobility.”

Skyports announced Series B funding of $23 million in March 2022 to go toward expanding its air taxi infrastructure.

In addition to the Joby Aviation-RTA Dubai partnership, Skyports also has a deal with SITA. The aviation technology specialist is developing biometric and vertiport technology in line with Skyports’ vision for a seamless passenger experience.