Archer Aviation doubles down on defense aircraft with $300M raise
Escalating geopolitical tensions and a new administration with a hawkish defense agenda has led many startups to embrace dual-use strategies to secure revenue through military applications. It’s a trend that is already heating up in aerospace.
Take Archer Aviation, a California-based startup building eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles). Until very recently, Archer’s go-to-market strategy was an air taxi networks across several cities in the U.S. and abroad.
Archer’s focus is now more acutely on defense, and it has attracted fresh capital to further that mission.
The company, which went public in September 2021 via a special purpose acquisition merger (SPAC), on Tuesday announced a $300 million equity raise from institutional investors like Blackrock and Wellington. The raise brings Archer’s total funding to around $3.36 billion. This fresh capital comes off the back of a $430 million round in December to fund its new Archer Defense program.
As part of that program, Archer signed an exclusive deal with weapons manufacturer Anduril to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric-powered VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications. Together, the two are targeting a program of record from the Department of Defense, which is a budgeted acquisition program with guaranteed funding over a set period.