Archer secures additional multi-million funding
The Californian electric aircraft startup Archer Aviation has closed a new financing round worth 215 million US dollars. The round, led by Archer partner Stellantis, also saw participation from United Airlines, Boeing, ARK Invest and others. And another hurdle to commercial flight operations has been cleared.
Archer has raised a total of $1.1 billion in capital so far. Of the 215 million dollars from the current round, 70 million came from Stellantis. According to the cooperation agreement signed in January, the carmaker intends to contribute capital and manufacturing expertise.
The company also received a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Special Airworthiness Certificate signals that Archer’s Midnight flying taxi has successfully met all FAA safety requirements, allowing the company to begin flight test operations in the coming weeks. With this, the company sees itself further on track to receive full certification for commercial flight operations by 2025. Archer will start up the production facility in Covington, Georgia, in early to mid-2024, together with Stellantis.
Also notable about the current funding is Boeing’s involvement. The US aircraft manufacturer actually has a stake in eVTOL-maker Wisk, and Wisk even sued Archer Aviation in April 2021 for misappropriation of trade secrets and patent infringements. This legal dispute has now been settled and even turned into a cooperation: Boeing, Archer, and Wisk have agreed to collaborate on autonomous flights to jointly advance the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector. “This strategic relationship will leverage each company’s respective strengths and competencies with the goal of accelerating the commercialization of autonomous flight,” says Archer.
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