Kepplair Evolution accelerates its growth with a new €6 million funding round, bringing the total funding raised to €17.5 million

Kepplair Evolution, just days after completing the first pre‑modification flights of its prototype aircraft, has announced the closing of a new €6 million funding round — bringing total financing secured since 2024 to €17.5 million, including €12.5 million in private investment and €5 million in public support from the French State and the Occitanie Region (France 2030 and ERDF).

This €6 million tranche — part of the €20 million Series A round initiated in early spring with the support of CMS Francis Lefebvre — reinforces investors’ renewed confidence in Kepplair Evolution’s industrial roadmap and marks a decisive milestone in the company’s scale‑up trajectory. 

Among the investors in this funding round are several investors from the Aerospace Angels network, France’s leading business angel network specialising in the aerospace sector. Their commitment demonstrates further recognition of the technical, industrial and economic credibility of the KEPPLAIR 72 programme.

David JOUBERT, Founding Chairman of Kepplair Evolution, commented: “This new round of funding marks a decisive milestone in our development. Above all, it reflects our investors’ renewed confidence in our ability to see this programme through to completion. Over the past few months, we have achieved every objective we had set ourselves: official recognition of our project as being of national interest by the French Government and the Occitanie Region; continued progress towards certification with EASA; delivery of our prototype aircraft; and now a significant strengthening of our financial resources. The entry into our share capital of business angels from Aerospace Angels also sends a particularly strong signal: seeing recognised professionals from the aerospace sector choose to support our development is a significant recognition of the work accomplished by our teams and the soundness of our strategy. With €17.5 million raised in less than two years, Kepplair Evolution is no longer just a company developing an innovative project; it is becoming a manufacturer preparing to bring a new generation of European water bomber aircraft to market. The coming months will be devoted to testing, certification and the industrialisation of the KEPPLAIR 72, with our ambition remaining unchanged: to quickly offer governments and private operators a high-performance, sovereign and sustainable European solution, capable of meeting the growing challenges of aerial firefighting.”

A funding round to accelerate programme momentum

Kepplair Evolution’s new funding round arrives at a decisive stage for the programme, as the company moves into the implementation of its first demonstrator and the launch of flight‑test operations. This capital injection is designed to accelerate technical development, advance EASA certification of the aircraft, support prototype testing, and prepare for industrialisation.

The company’s ambition remains firmly set: achieving certification of the KEPPLAIR 72 and bringing the aircraft into operational service by 2027.

An industrial response to a global strategic challenge

Confronted with ageing water‑bomber fleets and the intensification of forest fires worldwide — including more than 91,000 hectares burned in France by the end of August 2026, an increase of over 300 per cent compared with the same period last year — Kepplair Evolution is advancing a pragmatic European solution built on the conversion of an ATR 72.

This strategy sharply reduces development timelines, required investment and industrial risk, while delivering an aircraft capable of performing, according to operators’ needs, firefighting missions, cargo transport, medical evacuations or the deployment of rescue teams.

By doing so, the programme strengthens European industrial sovereignty in a domain that has become strategically essential for protecting populations, territories and the environment.