Air mobility startup Lygg raises €3.6 Million to reduce time and costs associated with business travel

Superhero Capital joins private and public investors to scale Lygg’s direct-route platform available to corporations and individuals.

Lygg optimizes underutilized private aircraft assets for cost-effective and time-efficient flights.

Startup’s premium travel experience reduces carbon emissions by up to 75 percent compared to existing commercial routes.

New routes in the Netherlands and Scotland are set to join existing services in Finland, Sweden, and Estonia.

As the model for regional air travel continues to collapse post-pandemic in both Europe and the United States, door-to-door air mobility startup Lygg announced it raised €3.6 million (over USD 3.9 million) to support the expansion of its contracted private aircraft routes to more locations in Europe and beyond. The company’s mission to reduce the cost, time, stress, and carbon emissions associated with business travel simultaneously resonates with corporate customers anchoring new Lygg routes from underserved locations to larger economic centres. 

The funding round, led by Superhero Capital, was joined by private investors, with also the Finnish government providing funding. The company plans to utilize the funds to expand its routes to locations such as Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Stockholm, Sweden; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Frankfurt, Germany, as well as expand its reservation portal that integrates with booking tools used by major travel management companies (TMCs).

“Think of Lygg as the ‘Uber of aviation.’ They are democratizing private air travel by leveraging dormant assets and matching routes with demand for a seamless door-to-door experience for busy travelers,” said Juha Ruohonen, General Partner of Superhero Capital. “As we watch more and more cities lose their regional air travel services, Lygg is filling the gap with transforming regional air travel that passengers actually look forward to, in a reliable, profitable and scalable model.”

Lygg... the aviation startup adds new flight routes to and from Helsinki, Finland; Örebro and Linköping, Sweden and Tallinn.

Lygg - the aviation startup adds new flight routes to and from Helsinki, Finland; Örebro and Linköping, Sweden and Tallinn. 

The regional air travel startup out of Finland is leveraging existing privately-owned aircraft assets and their pilots, coupled with car services, to deliver flight routes that take passengers from destinations underserved by traditional airlines to cities throughout Europe with door-to-door service. In January, Lygg began offering flight routes to and from Helsinki, Finland; Örebro, Sweden; Linköping, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia, which started Monday, January 16, 2023.

The new flight paths milestone comes on the heels of record promotional and charter flights in 2022 to familiarize customers with Lygg’s offerings. From June last year, when operations began, Lygg has completed 52 flights to 17 destinations in 12 European countries.

“These new flight routes are a confirmation that the Lygg regional travel model is resonating with the business community,” said Roope Kakäläinen, CEO and Co-Founder of Lygg. “On the one hand, we are delivering traveller satisfaction with curb-to-aircraft seamless efficiencies that anticipate savings for companies. On the other hand, we are providing operators of the small aircraft asset class the possibility to see future flight hours and consequently predict their revenues. Happy customers, savings, profitability — that is a winning combination.”

The new city and country destinations offered by Lygg are linked with direct connection flights, planned and optimized through Lygg’s smart mobility platform, at the heart of which lies its client and demand-driven business model. The Lygg customer app enables corporate clients with regular transportation requirements to book point-to-point itineraries across Europe.

“We have people moving around every week, so the use [of privatized flights] could be very active … we [also] have a lot of visitors [come] here at the factory. The nearest airfield is in Kuopio, from where it always takes time to get here [IIsalmi],” says Tommi Väänänen, who heads supply chain for Ponsse Plc, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of large-scale forest machines. Ponsse plans to use Lygg’s existing Helsinki-Iisalmi direct connection flights for easier access to the company’s remotely-based site.