Lilium

How it happened

Lilium was a German developer of an all-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) jet, reaching a valuation of roughly $3.3B when it went public via a SPAC merger with Qell in 2021. It burned cash developing its aircraft while struggling to raise more funding; its subsidiaries filed for insolvency in 2024, and after a rescue attempt collapsed it wound down in 2024-25, wiping out nearly all its value. Insiders saw it coming: Glassdoor reviews as early as 2022 warned the company was spending its way toward collapse, and later ones flagged erratic finances, a churn of inexperienced managers — one counted seven in three years — and leadership that staff said reassured them while downplaying the cash crisis until insolvency.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.