Wisk Aero

eVTOL · Aerospace Defense · Autonomous Flight

Acquisition

Archer buys Boeing's Wisk Aero, Insitu, SkyGrid for ~20% stake

The deal folds decades of the plane maker's autonomous-flight R&D into a still unprofitable air-taxi startup racing to certify its first aircraft.

• Archer Aviation signed a definitive agreement to acquire Boeing's Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu units, paying entirely in stock and warrants rather than cash.
• Wisk has flown six generations of eVTOL aircraft over 1,700+ test flights, Insitu builds surveillance drones used by 35 nations' militaries with $200M+ annual revenue, and SkyGrid runs an automated air-traffic-management platform.
• Boeing will receive Archer Class A shares equal to 19.75% of outstanding stock plus warrants for up to $200M more shares, exercisable over one to four years, and gets a board seat and a 12-month lock-up.
• The combined units bring nearly two million flight hours and over 3,500 produced uncrewed aircraft into Archer's ZEE AI platform.
• The sale extends Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg's divestiture push, which last year saw the company sell Jeppesen and other digital-aviation units to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion.
• Closing is expected by year-end 2026 pending antitrust review, and Boeing has also committed to buy up to $55 million more Archer shares tied to a separate $400 million-plus equity raise.
• By trading legacy autonomy and defense assets for equity instead of cash, Boeing offloads unprofitable air-mobility R&D while keeping upside, and eVTOL startups increasingly lean on defense revenue to bridge slow commercial certification timelines.