Maeve Aero Winding Down After Lack of Funding

Maeve Aero, the Dutch startup that is working on a hybrid-electric 90-seater together with MHIRJ, is on the verge of winding down. The company has been unsuccessful in raising €20 million in funding to get it to the next stage of development, Dutch Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday. CEO Jan Willem Heinen told the newspaper that Maeve that the next round of funding was too risky for potential investors. Maeve will stop “in its current form”, said Heinen, but he still has hopes to attract a partner with solid financial backing. So far, Maeve has not filed for insolvency. It has been quiet around Maeve since last September, when it signed up with Delta Air Lines through its Sustainable Skies Lab. Delta was to offer Maeve operational expertise for developing a more sustainable aircraft. That same September, SkyWest Airlines was announced as a strategic investor. Maeve was seen as "the leading edge of technological, sustainable advancements for regional aviation,” said President and CEO Chip Childs said in a media statement. Details of the equity share were not disclosed, and there is no reference at all to it in SkyWest’s 2025 annual report. Maeve Jet A few months earlier at the Paris Airshow, Maeve revealed an updated version of the Maeve Jet. From the all-battery 44 seater M50 that was unveiled in 2021 and the hybrid-electric M80 in 2023, the Maeve Jet was redesigned to be a 70, 90 or 100 seater with tail-mounted electromotors with static rotor swirl recovery vanes. The redesign followed on a thorough evaluation by Chief Technical Officer Martin Nüsseler, previously with Deutsche Aircraft. The plan was to enter service in 2032 or 2033. Maeve secured the support from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Regional Jet (MHIRJ), the license holder of the Bombardier CRJ family. Ross Mitchell, senior vice-president Strategy, Business Development and Communications, said in Paris that MHIRJ was supporting Maeve on the design configuration and with presenting the aircraft to the market. The Japanese connection was strengthened through an MoU with Japan Airlines and JAL Engineering. “This partnership will play a key role in optimising the aircraft’s specification and ensuring that it meets the economic and operational requirements essential for supporting the Japanese regional network.” Funding In 2023, Maeve secured €17.5 million in European funding but needed at least another €100 million to get it to the next stage. The project was to get to a design freeze and contracts with suppliers by late 2025/early 2026, Nüsseler told the author last year in Paris. Funding has to be in place by 2027. Jan Willem Heinen confirmed earlier that getting to production would require at least €1.0 billion. Maeve was still exploring options for how to produce the aircraft, which could be done in Europe, but maybe also in Canada. The company had a design office in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich (Germany). Troubles The troubles at Maeve are an indication that launching a clean sheet design with unproven technology and economics is hard. French Aura Aero recently secured €50 million in fresh funding, which brought total funding to €340 million. It also announced the first 20 firm orders and obtained the building permit for the new factory in Toulouse. However, the Aura ERA is a 19-seater and thus much smaller than what Maeve had in mind. Heart Aerospace seems have lost momentum since unveiling the first prototype in Sweden, which it planned to move to US for flight testing last year. This never happened and it has been very quiet around Heart since June last year. In April 2025, the company said it had strong financial backing, thanks to $107 million in Series B funding and $40 million through additional investments. AirInsight reached out to Jan Willem Heinen, but he didn’t respond.

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