Doroni Says Its H1-X Flying Car Has 600+ Pre-Orders — but Filings Show Crowdfunding, Not Deposits, Funds the Work

Doroni Aerospace says on its website that more than 600 people have placed pre-orders for the H1-X, a two-seat personal eVTOL, and that it has raised more than $60 million. Both figures are the company own claims. Its filing for the six months to June 30, 2026, tells a more precise story: $329,895 in customer deposits in that period, alongside a net $21.65 million raised from preferred shares through equity crowdfunding, a Regulation A public offering and a private placement. Cash on hand was $13.42 million at June 30. The filing does not say how many pre-orders carry a deposit, and it describes deposits as refundable on request.

That gap matters because personal eVTOL programs of this kind are bankrolled by investor equity long before customers pay in, so a headline order count says little about demand until deposit and conversion terms are known. The H1-X itself, unveiled as a showroom model at Dania Beach, Florida, on March 26, 2026, is specified by the company with eight vertical and two horizontal ducted fans, a top speed of 120 mph and a range of 100 miles — but the aircraft has not yet flown in its final form. Founder and CEO Doron Merdinger piloted an early H1 prototype on July 3, 2023, which the company called the first US flight test of a two-seat personal eVTOL, a claim that is not independently verified.

The certification route is also distinct from the air-taxi path. Doroni is targeting light-sport certification under the FAA MOSAIC rule, finalised in July 2025, rather than the type certification Joby and Archer are pursuing for air taxis. It aims to submit the H1-X to the FAA in late 2027, subject to financing, with production in 2028, and on September 29, 2026, it announced a partnership with Seattle engineering firm TLG Aerospace for loads analysis, structural and fluid modelling and flight mechanics. The next dated milestones are the close of the Regulation A offering, expected into the first quarter of 2027, and that late-2027 FAA submission — both tied to financing, which is why the filing numbers, not the website headline, are the ones to track.