Destinus SA, whose mission is to build near-space vehicles and infrastructure to power the world's fastest and cleanest transportation network, announces the closing of a seed round of 26.8 million Swiss francs ($29 million). Various venture funds and family offices from Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia participated in the financing round. Conny & Co, Quiet Capital, One Way Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, Cathexis Ventures, ACE & Company, among others. Leading Swiss law firm Walder Wyss acted as legal advisor on the transaction.

Founder and CEO Mikhail Kokorich said: "We are excited about the broad support for Destinus, which further validates the potential for clean, hypersonic travel to anywhere in the world in 1-2 hours. We plan to use the funding to continue the development of our hydrogen airbreathing and rocket engines and test the first supersonic flights powered by hydrogen engines in the next 12-18 months. We have already made significant progress and have designed and filed patents for the unique subsystems, such as a hydrogen active cooling system, enabling a highly reusable hyperplane flying at almost the speed of a rocket".

Dr. Cornelius (Conny) Boersch, the founder of Conny & Co. and Mountain Partners, joined the Destinus board. Conny has more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and founder of numerous technology companies. With more than 400 investments, he is considered one of the most active and well-recognised business angels in Europe and was named European Business Angel of the Year in 2009. As a certified Super Angel, the European Investment Fund (EIF) matches his investments 1:1. Conny founded several successful RFID-related technology companies, including ACG (IPO in 2000), Smartrac (IPO in 2006), and Identiv (NASDAQ-listed since 2006).

Conny Boersch commented on the seed round: "I was an investor in Mikhail's previous company, and his development pace is incomparable. The team began flight testing with a prototype less than six months after the company's foundation. In addition to his technical and engineering experience, Mikhail is also one of the most organised and structured founders I have ever met."

Destinus' chairman of the Advisory Board, the former minister of Economics and Technology, and the vice-chancellor of Germany, a passionate pilot, Philipp Rosler, noted: "It is breathtaking to see a future in which travel anywhere in the world in 1-2 hours will be available. Most importantly, the hyperplane under development will use liquid hydrogen to fuel its engines. That gives the great opportunity to fly fast and at the same time be carbon neutral. The only emission of such engines is water. I am excited that companies like Destinus will be able to provide European leadership in the aerospace sector."