JetZero eyes U.S. government loans as it seeks billions in funding

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — In a highly simplified conceptualization of something as complex as aircraft development, especially one originating from a startup, there are three principal steps. First, assembling an idea into an organized and actionable design. Second, demonstrating and validating that the idea is what you thought it was. And finally, raising the money to pay for certification and industrialization of that design into a full-fledged product.

Working in hangars on the edge of the Long Beach Municipal Airport, JetZero is somewhere between steps one and two. With 225 people (nearly enough to fill its Z4 blended wing airliner concept) and a growing coalition of suppliers, the startup is deep into development of its full-scale demonstrator. If successful, the Z4 would be the largest blended wing aircraft in history. The effort is aiming to prove by the end of 2027 — once and for all — that the shape delivers a radical reduction in drag, a major increase in lift and thus a potentially industry-changing leap in aerodynamic efficiency. Ambitiously, JetZero is aiming to have a commercial product available for airlines as early as 2031.

The need to pay for JetZero’s accelerating development of a piloted 185-foot wingspan demonstrator is imperative. Today, the company publicly shows $300 million raised, largely from a $235 million Series A round. That round included the first chunks of funding from the Department of Defense, as well as undisclosed sums from Northrop Grumman, Alaska Air Group and others.

Related: United moves to cultivate blended wing JetZero as competitor to Boeing and Airbus

Now, as the startup garners more investors like United Airlines — launch operator of two of Boeing’s four widebody models, which made its own commitment of undisclosed size on April 24 — JetZero is eyeing, among a variety of sources, a once-deep well of public loans for a major infusion. This is the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, which as of the end of last year had doled out $69 billion in financing for projects since 2005.

Dan Da Silva, JetZero’s president and chief operating officer told The Air Current in a recent interview that JetZero has not yet submitted an application to the DOE, but is currently doing its factory layout and capital calculations “of what it will take to bring this airplane to market, because there’s potential there for a government-supported loan.”

JetZero ultimately anticipates it will need between $7 billion and $10 billion to bring the 250-seat airliner to market, the company said. Da Silva, a former Boeing executive, said JetZero aims to raise $2 billion to $3 billion dollars in total equity, acquiring the balance through debt financing, including through possible government funds.

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