Archer wins competitive bid process and acquires Lilium’s portfolio, including patents for its ducted fan technology

Archer Avi­a­tion has won the com­pet­i­tive bid process to acquire Lil­i­um GmbH’s port­fo­lio of ~300 advanced air mobil­i­ty patent assets for €18 mil­lion.

The port­fo­lio from the Ger­man eVTOL OEM, whose Board filed for self-admin­is­tra­tion 12 months ago, includ­ed patents relat­ing to key inno­va­tions in high-volt­age sys­tems, bat­tery man­age­ment, advanced air­craft design, flight con­trols, elec­tric engines, pro­pellers and duct­ed fans.

Lil­i­um was found­ed in 2015 and spent more than $1.5 bil­lion devel­op­ing advanced tech­nolo­gies relat­ed to eVTOL air­craft. For Archer, it says the acqui­si­tion strength­ens its posi­tion in next-gen­er­a­tion elec­tric avi­a­tion and rein­forces its com­mit­ment to ensur­ing the USA leads the way when it comes to crit­i­cal eVTOL tech­nol­o­gy.

Adam Gold­stein, Founder and CEO of Archer, said: “Lilium’s pio­neer­ing work advanced the fron­tier of eVTOL design and tech­nol­o­gy, and we’re excit­ed to bring their cut­ting-edge tech­nolo­gies into the fold at Archer as we advance our prod­uct roadmap.”

Through this pur­chase, Archer gains key enabling tech­nolo­gies that bol­ster its cur­rent plat­forms, includ­ing what is believed to be the lead­ing patent port­fo­lio on duct­ed fan tech­nol­o­gy in the world.

In July 2025, the U.S. Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion and Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion announced the mod­ern­iza­tion of the spe­cial air­wor­thi­ness cer­ti­fi­ca­tion (MOSAIC) final rule to dri­ve inno­va­tion across the light-sport sec­tor.

Archer believes Lilium’s duct­ed fan tech­nol­o­gy could unlock future devel­op­ment in both the light-sport and region­al air mobil­i­ty sec­tors.