Archer buys former rival Wisk Aero
Archer buys former rival Wisk Aero
Archer 收购前竞争对手 Wisk Aero
Three years after settling a trade secret lawsuit, electric aircraft company Archer Aviation now owns its former rival, Wisk Aero. Under the terms of the deal, Boeing has agreed to sell Wisk Aero and two other subsidiaries to Archer in exchange for an ownership stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing released Monday. The other subsidiaries are SkyGrid, a digital airspace and air traffic management software company, and drone maker Insitu.
在解决商业机密诉讼三年后，电动飞机公司 Archer Aviation 现已收购其前竞争对手 Wisk Aero。根据周一发布的监管文件，波音公司已同意将 Wisk Aero 及另外两家子公司出售给 Archer，以换取 Archer 的股权。这两家子公司分别是数字空域和空中交通管理软件公司 SkyGrid，以及无人机制造商 Insitu。
Boeing will receive newly issued Archer shares equal to 19.75% of Archer’s shares outstanding immediately before closing, resulting in about a 16.5% stake in the company after the deal, according to a regulatory filing and a person familiar with the matter. The acquisition is a capstone to a once-embittered relationship between two companies developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
根据监管文件及知情人士透露，波音将获得新发行的 Archer 股票，其数量相当于交易完成前 Archer 已发行股票总数的 19.75%，交易完成后，波音将持有 Archer 约 16.5% 的股份。此次收购为两家开发电动垂直起降（eVTOL）飞行器的公司之间曾经紧张的关系画上了句号。
In April 2021, Wisk sued Archer for “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. The legal wrangling lasted two years before the companies reached an unusual settlement that not only ended the lawsuit as well as Archer’s counter-suit against Wisk seeking $1 billion in damages, but kicked off a new collaboration.
2021 年 4 月，Wisk 起诉 Archer“公然窃取”其机密信息和知识产权。法律纠纷持续了两年，最终双方达成了一项不同寻常的和解协议。该协议不仅结束了诉讼以及 Archer 对 Wisk 索赔 10 亿美元的反诉，还开启了双方的全新合作。
Under the terms of the settlement, Archer agreed to make Wisk the exclusive provider of autonomous technology. Archer also agreed, at the time, to give Wisk the option to purchase up to 13,176,636 shares of common stock at a price of $0.01 per share.
根据和解条款，Archer 同意将 Wisk 作为其自动驾驶技术的独家供应商。当时，Archer 还同意授予 Wisk 以每股 0.01 美元的价格购买最多 13,176,636 股普通股的期权。
Wisk Aero got its start as Kittyhawk, an electric aviation startup led by Sebastian Thrun, who co-founded the Alphabet moonshot factory X, and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. Kittyhawk, which shut down in September 2022, had several aircraft programs, including a single-seater, all-electric, vertical take-off and landing vehicle known as Flyer, and Heaviside, a more capable, quieter and once-secret electric aircraft that could fly and land anywhere autonomously.
Wisk Aero 的前身是 Kittyhawk，这是一家由 Sebastian Thrun 领导的电动航空初创公司。Thrun 是 Alphabet 登月工厂 X 的联合创始人，该公司还得到了谷歌联合创始人拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）的支持。Kittyhawk 于 2022 年 9 月关闭，曾拥有多个飞行器项目，包括名为 Flyer 的单座全电动垂直起降飞行器，以及 Heaviside——一种性能更强、噪音更小且曾处于保密状态的电动飞行器，能够自动在任何地方起降。
But it was Kittyhawk’s Cora program that would end up living on. Cora, a two-person, autonomous flying taxi, was spun off in late 2019 into a joint venture with Boeing. The joint venture was renamed Wisk and set out to develop and commercialize electric, self-flying air taxis. Boeing poured millions into the effort. In early 2022, Boeing invested another $450 million into Wisk. And by 2023, Wisk was a fully owned subsidiary of Boeing.
但最终延续下来的是 Kittyhawk 的 Cora 项目。Cora 是一款双人自动驾驶飞行出租车，于 2019 年底分拆并与波音成立了合资企业。该合资企业更名为 Wisk，旨在开发和商业化电动自动驾驶空中出租车。波音为该项目投入了数百万美元。2022 年初，波音又向 Wisk 投资了 4.5 亿美元。到 2023 年，Wisk 已成为波音的全资子公司。
Meanwhile, Archer, a California-based startup founded in 2018, has expanded its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL) program beyond its initial plan to build an air taxi network. The company expanded into the defense sector a couple of years ago, raising a $430 million round in December 2024 to fund its new Archer Defense program. In 2025, it raised another $300 million from institutional investors like BlackRock and Wellington. Archer also struck an exclusive deal with weapons manufacturer Anduril to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric-powered VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications.
与此同时，成立于 2018 年的加州初创公司 Archer，已将其电动垂直起降（eVTOL）项目扩展到最初的空中出租车网络计划之外。该公司几年前进军国防领域，并于 2024 年 12 月筹集了 4.3 亿美元，用于资助其新的 Archer Defense 项目。2025 年，它又从贝莱德（BlackRock）和惠灵顿（Wellington）等机构投资者那里筹集了 3 亿美元。Archer 还与武器制造商 Anduril 达成了一项独家协议，共同开发用于关键国防应用的油电混合动力垂直起降飞行器。
Archer, which went public in 2021 through a merger with a blank-check company, continues to make progress on its all-electric Midnight aircraft as well. Earlier this month, Archer completed a piloted round-trip flight between Salinas Municipal Airport and Monterey Regional Airport as the company prepares to begin operations later this year under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.
Archer 于 2021 年通过与一家空白支票公司合并上市，目前其全电动 Midnight 飞行器项目也在持续取得进展。本月早些时候，Archer 在萨利纳斯市机场（Salinas Municipal Airport）和蒙特雷地区机场（Monterey Regional Airport）之间完成了载人往返飞行，公司正准备在今年晚些时候根据白宫的 eVTOL 整合试点计划开始运营。