Archer, a company specializing in the development of hybrid aircraft, has recently secured $301.75 million in financing to bolster its already strong financial position. The funding, which includes leading institutional investors such as BlackRock, brings Archer's total liquidity to approximately $1 billion.
The capital raise is intended to accelerate the development of Archer's hybrid aircraft platform for the defense market and beyond. This move comes in the wake of the company's launch of Archer Defense, which aims to create next-generation aircraft for defense applications, with the first product being a hybrid-propulsion, vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft.
The CEO of Archer, Adam Goldstein, expressed his belief that the demand for advanced vertical lift aircraft across defense appears to be substantially larger than initially expected. As a result, the additional capital will be used to invest in critical capabilities like composites and batteries to capture this opportunity and more.
In terms of financial results, Archer has reported that its GAAP operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2024 are expected to be within the range of $120 million to $140 million, and its total non-GAAP operating expenses are in line with its guidance range of $95 million to $110 million. Moreover, the company does not anticipate a material increase in total non-GAAP operating expenses for the first quarter of 2025 over the Q4 guided range.
The financing was facilitated through the purchase and sale of 35,500,000 shares of Archer’s class A common stock at a price of $8.50 per share, with the net proceeds being allocated for the development of next-generation aircraft manufacturing capabilities related to this effort, including batteries and composites, as well as for general corporate purposes.
Today the company's shares have moved -6.2% to a price of $9.57. For more information, read the company's full 8-K submission here.
