Archer on Feb. 11 said it has raised $300 million from institutional investors that it will put toward development of advanced manufacturing—to include batteries and composites—related to its hybrid-propulsion vertical take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft for commercial and defense applications.
The new funding follows a $430 million equity capital raise announced in December to support hybrid-propulsion development. At the time, the company said it had no additional near-term funding needs. Both funding raises are also being put toward general corporate expenses.
Now, the company sees bigger market opportunities for potential military customers.
“I believe the opportunity for advanced vertical lift aircraft across defense appears to be substantially larger than I originally expected,” Adam Goldstein, founder and CEO of Archer, said in a statement. “As a result, we are raising additional capital to help us invest in critical capabilities like composites and batteries to help enable us to capture this opportunity and more.”
So far, Archer has raised more than $2 billion in total capital and the company said it as about $1 billion in liquidity.
In December, Archer also said it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Anduril Industries to jointly develop eVTOL aircraft for defense applications. Midnight is the name of the aircraft the company is developing and has delivered one to the Air Force for flight-testing and evaluation.
BlackRock was one of the investors in the latest funding raise.
Archer also provided estimated operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2024 that will be in the $120 million to $140 million range.
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.
