Dive Brief:
- Boeing is selling three of its subsidiaries to Archer Aviation in exchange for a minority stake in the electric aircraft startup, according to a securities filing Monday.
- Archer has agreed to acquire Wisk Aero, a maker of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft; drone company Insitu; and air traffic software firm Skygrid. Boeing’s stake in Archer will amount to 19.75% of Class A shares with options to buy more shares over the next four years, according to the filing.
- Boeing has also agreed to invest up to $55 million in stock in Archer’s next funding round, any time before March 31, 2027. The sale is expected to close by the end of 2026.
Dive Insight:
The pending sale allows Boeing to prioritize its commercial, defense and global services, focusing on safety and quality of its plane manufacturing processes.
In 2025, the plane titan sold a portion of its digital aviation software business unit to private equity software firm Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion. The company also reacquired fuselage supplier Spirit Aerosystems for $8.4 billion, while also selling some of its assets to rival Airbus in an effort to comply with global government requirements.
In addition to Boeing’s stake in Archer, the agreement also involves the two companies collaborating on improving and developing new products, Archer CEO and Chairman Adam Goldstein said during a second quarter earnings call Monday.
Once the deal closes, Archer will own the Wisk intellectual property. The company will share Wisk’s autonomous flight technology with Boeing for its next-generation commercial and defense aircraft, according to the press release.
Goldstein credits Brian Yutko, vice president of product development for Boeing’s commercial plane segment, for driving the business relationship between the two entities. Yutko previously served as Wisk’s CEO.
“This transaction is a win-win for Boeing and Archer,” Yutko said in a statement. “It allows Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu to accelerate capability development and time to market while ensuring Boeing capitalizes on its investments in these technologies over the past two decades through continued development in our core businesses.”
The deal is a far cry from a 2021 lawsuit between Archer and Wisk. The latter sued Archer for allegedly stealing trade secrets and patent infringement, according to court documents. Wisk accused Archer CTO Thomas Muniz, then VP of engineering, of wiping his computer activity such as file browsing and downloading records, from one of his computer hard drives before joining Archer. Wisk also accused Muniz and Archer of hiring Wisk employees to join the company.
Archer, Wisk and Boeing reached a settlement in August 2023 for an undisclosed amount of money. The companies also entered a collaboration agreement to grow and develop products in the advanced air mobility industry, according to the press release. Furthermore, Archer agreed to make Wisk the exclusive autonomy technology provider for new aircraft models.
While Archer’s main focus is still electric air taxis, the company has been diversifying its aerospace portfolio to include applications in the defense sector.
In July, Archer and defense startup Anduril unveiled two autonomous aircraft variants that they’ve been developing at the Farnborough International Airshow in England, Halo and Thunder.
Halo is an autonomous VTOL intended for commercial and defense use. For commercial clients, it’s expected to be used primarily for cargo and rescue operations, according to the Q2 securities filing.
Thunder is a Group 5 autonomous attack drone. The drones under this group have a maximum take-off weight of up to 1,320 pounds and have an altitude of up to 18,000 mean sea level, per the military’s Joint Air Operations guidance.
The three acquisitions, particularly Wisk, will allow Archer to accelerate its Halo and Thunder programs “at a fraction of the time it would have taken us to achieve the same results organically,” Goldstein said.
The three subsidiaries will also help Archer generate more money. Insitu, for example, has over $200 million in yearly revenue across 35 countries, the CEO added. Insitu also built over 4,000 Group 2 and 3 drones to date. The drones under groups 2 and 3 weigh between 55 pounds and 1,320 pounds and have an altitude ranging between 3,500 above ground level and up to 18,000 mean sea level, per the military’s Joint Air Operations guidance.
“That, in addition to our existing air taxi platform, our Halo/Thunder platform and aviation-focused AI solutions, will significantly change the profile for Archer and our path to meaningful revenue in the years to come,” Goldstein said. “We're not just an air taxi company anymore.”
