Air taxi developer Archer Aviation has secured $165 million in additional financing, providing the start-up with more cash to fund the expensive process of bringing its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft through certification and into production.
Earlier in August, the California-based firm said it had reached agreements for the funding with investors including automaker Stellantis, United Airlines and other undisclosed institutional backers.
Archer has now closed the transaction, the company said on 22 August. In addition to the $165 million, the deal stands to provide Archer with another $10 million, though that amount remains subject to approval by Stellantis shareholders.
“Archer now maintains one of the strongest liquidity positions in the industry as it rapidly advances its industrialisation and commercialisation,” the company says, adding it has raised a total $1.5 billion for its project.
Archer will need that cash as it works to achieve certification of its Midnight eVTOL from the Federal Aviation Administration. The company will also need substantial funds to pay for industrialisation of production, ensuring it is prepared to begin producing Midnight in quantifies sufficient to generate significant cash flow.
Archer aims to have Midnight certificated as soon as 2025, though the viability of that timeline, and of the company’s broader business plan, remains uncertain. Much depends on the speed at which the FAA – already resource-constrained and under immense pressure not to misstep – approves what is an entirely new class of aircraft.
Archer raised the $165 million through a “private investment in public equity” – or PIPE – deal, which involves a public company issuing stock directly to private buyers, rather than making the stock broadly available to the public.
Archer burned through about $100 million in the second quarter of 2024, and ended June with cash and cash equivalents valued at $360 million.
Since then, it had padded its accounts with another $220 million, including the new $165 million investment and a separate $55 million investment from Stellantis that closed on 1 July.
Archer’s Midnight eVTOL is designed to carry several passengers and to operate short-distance flights of 17-16nm (32-48km), the company says.
