Archer to acquire rival Wisk as Boeing broadens its asset sales

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Archer Aviation will acquire Boeing’s Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu subsidiaries in an all-stock transaction that is poised to make Boeing the largest outside shareholder in the electric vertical take-off and landing developer, the companies announced on Aug. 10.

As part of the deal, Boeing and Archer will enter into a cross-licensing agreement that will allow the aerospace giant to use Wisk’s core autonomous flight technology for its current and future commercial and defense aircraft — a nod to growing preparations for its eventual 737 successor. Boeing has also agreed to invest up to $55 million in an upcoming Archer funding round and will receive warrants to purchase up to $200 million of the company’s stock in the future.

For Archer, the acquisition of rival eVTOL developer Wisk provides a ready source of engineering talent as it ramps up development of the hybrid-electric loyal wingman drone it is developing with Anduril Industries, Archer CEO Adam Goldstein told The Air Current in a joint interview with Brian Yutko, Boeing’s vice president of commercial airplanes product development and Wisk’s previous CEO.

Meanwhile, the deal will allow Boeing to retain a financial stake in the advanced air mobility market and leverage valuable intellectual property it developed through Wisk while continuing to spin off assets that it doesn’t consider essential to its core commercial and defense operations.

“We can now take all of the technologies and the IP and whatnot that’s been developed, and then focus them back on our core Boeing products and our core Boeing priorities and business priorities at the moment,” Yutko said. “And really, I think, it’s kind of a win-win for both companies.”

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