Heart Aerospace, a hybrid-electric aircraft maker, has raised $107 million in a Series B round.
Sweden-based Heart Aerospace has now raised a total of $145 million from investors including Air Canada, United Airlines and Y Combinator. Sagitta Ventures, a Danish investor, is a new backer for the company.
The company plans to put the investment toward further development of the business as well as progressing certification of its ES-30 hybrid-electric aircraft.
Anders Forslund, co-founder and CEO, said, “We couldn’t be more excited about this round. This investment furthers our mission to decarbonize and democratize air travel. Air travel is globally in its infancy. Billions of people around the world are looking to be connected to this amazing infrastructure over the next decade. Meanwhile, the industry has committed to net zero emissions by 2050. The only way forward is to decouple the tremendous growth in aviation from its emissions, and we believe ES-30 is the first stepping stone. Moreover, because of the superior economics of electric aircraft over their fossil-fuel counterparts, the ES-30 will bring back service to communities that have lost connectivity and open many new markets. This upcoming year is an exciting one for Heart Aerospace as we prepare to unveil our full-scale aircraft demonstrator.”
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Heart Aerospace said in a statement it has 250 orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 planes.
Andrew Chang, United Airlines Ventures managing director, said, “United’s goal of net zero emissions requires bold solutions and that’s why we’ve invested in a broad portfolio of low-carbon technologies including hybrid-electric aircraft. Once operational, we believe Heart’s ES-30 aircraft have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint, while serving regional markets across the country.”
United unveiled its Sustainable Aviation Venture Fund last year and announced in July it had grown to $200 million and added a number of new partners including American Express Global Business Travel, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Ventures.
Michael Rousseau, president and CEO of Air Canada, said, “Further to our initial equity position in Heart Aerospace to support the development of the ES-30 hybrid-electric regional aircraft which could be deployed in Air Canada’s regional markets, we recently strengthened our financial investment in Heart Aerospace with an additional $5 million to advance the ES-30 aircraft towards type certification.”
