Finland-based door-to-door air mobility start-up Lygg has raised more than $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 the Finnish government also providing funding. The company plans to utilise 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.

“Think of Lygg as the 'Uber of aviation'. It is democratising private air travel by leveraging dormant assets and matching routes with demand for a seamless door-to-door experience for busy travellers,” says Superhero Capital general partner Juha Ruohonen. “As we watch more and more cities lose their regional air travel services, Lygg is filling the gap by transforming regional air travel that passengers actually look forward to, in a reliable, profitable and scalable model.”

Lygg offers business travellers an alternative to the conventional hub approach to commercial, regional air travel; it caters to locations underserved by commercial carriers but where a density of travellers from an anchor corporate client exists to justify a route. Once established, anyone can book a flight on the new Lygg route. Time and cost efficiency is achieved by flying passengers directly to their destinations rather than use connecting flights, and door-to-door airport transportation using Teslas.

For instance, the Lygg route from Tampere in Finland to Stockholm, Sweden saves six hours per roundtrip for both business travellers and anchor corporate customers. Rather than travelling over seven hours across two flights, with a connection in Helsinki, passengers are flying direct to Stockholm in the comfort of a private aircraft in just two hours. This reduces total travel costs by around $580 per traveller and reduces emissions by 43 per cent (180 kg versus 102 kg).

“With a traditional regional carrier, you're up before dawn and home well after dinner. It's not uncommon for people to travel 10 hours or more door-to-door just for a meeting,” says Lygg co-founder and CEO Roope Kekalainen. “Post-pandemic, corporations are not in a position to require such arduous travel schedules from their employees. With Lygg, our corporate clients are cutting these travel times in half, saving money and making these requested business trips more enjoyable and productive.”

In today's business climate, corporations and travellers are stuck between reduced connections offered by regional airlines and increased pressure to reduce the carbon emissions of their travel. With Lygg, travellers can save up to 87 per cent of their travel time, while corporations can save on costs while prioritising employee wellbeing. Additionally, a Lygg flight can reduce the carbon footprint of a traveller, thus further reducing a corporation's travel emissions by up to 75 per cent. The technology and associated smartphone app powering Lygg's platform enables accurate passenger and cargo volume measurement over time, which allows Lygg to sustainably organise direct flights and frequencies with as few empty seats as possible.

“Throughout Europe and the US, there is still a high percentage of executives that must travel to conduct business, yet telling people they have to take a train or simply fly less is not the answer,” says Lygg co-founder and CFO Jari Viinikkala. “Instead, the answer is optimisation, and Lygg is answering this call with our direct-route platform that's future-proofed to scale with the zero-emission solutions currently in development.”

While Lygg provides regional air travel passengers with private aircraft and electric vehicles, the platform also serves as a management solution for operators of small aircraft assets. Lygg offers operators of its digitalised and shared fleet the benefit of predictability and guarantee of income that comes from recurring aircraft privatisations and flight subscriptions over selected periods of time.

“Lygg caters to a two-sided market, offering travel solutions that leverage under-used assets, including smaller, peripheral airports and business terminals, and adapted aircraft categories,” continues Viinikkala. “Our offering allows aircraft owners and operators the ability to maximise their assets and increase their revenue. With this new round of funding, we look forward to expanding our operator base and offering more routes.”

Since June 2022, when operations began, Lygg has completed 154 flights flying thousands of happy passengers to 17 destinations in 12 European countries, including Germany, France, Netherlands, UK, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia.