Photo courtesy of Beta Technologies
The funding will take Beta from the test aircraft it flies now through the construction of a factory and the first deliveries to the U.S. Air Force in 2023, said Kyle Clark, founder and chief executive officer. Fidelity offered to fund the entire round, but the amount was increased to add investors, including Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, which seeks startups that can help the internet retailer reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, he said.
“We were way over-subscribed and ended up having a super-strategic and valuable investor set in our first institutional round of funding,” Clark said in an interview. “We were fortunate to have customers early on and have the internal funding to make it this far, which puts us in a wonderful position to maintain a focused path toward commercialization.”
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Blade Urban Air Mobility recently reached an agreement to add up to 20 of Beta Technologies’ $4 million Alia 250 eVTOL aircraft to its passenger transportation network, with deliveries due to start in 2024, followed by operations in 2025. According to Blade, the aircraft will be acquired through its “third-party financing relationships” with its operating partners, and Jet Linx Aviation is set to be the first to start employing an initial batch of five aircraft.
On a full charge, the Alia will be able to operate on routes of up to 250 nautical miles (288 miles), carrying six people (including a pilot) or three standard cargo pallets at speeds of up to 170 mph. Beta says it will take 50 minutes to recharge the aircraft, which is to be certified under the FAA’s Part 23 rules.
The Alia aircraft You can t
not see the planes. Beta Technologies two prized prototypes take up the center of its bustling headquarters inside a hangar at Burlington International Airport. Around the upper rim of the airy space, employee workstations overlook the lustrous white machines through long walls of glass. During a recent tour, a group of engineers studied aircraft designs on a projection screen in one conference room. Next door, two others played Ping-Pong. The open office layout isn t to imitate Silicon Valley, or even to show off Beta s aircraft, founder and CEO Kyle Clark insisted. He thinks the glass helps get engineers talking to each other, which leads to a better plane. And Clark is obsessed with building a better plane.
ALIA aircraft. Photo Credit: Beta Technologies
On April 13 Beta Technologies (South Burlington, Vt., U.S.) and Blade Urban Air Mobility (Blade, New York, N.Y., U.S.) announced a binding agreement through which Blade will secure up to 20 Beta electric vertical aircraft (EVA), becoming BETA’s first passenger service customer. This news comes on the heels of UPS’ announcement that it would buy up to 150 Beta EVA aircraft, plus charging stations, as part of that company’s long-term solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Founded in 2017, Beta and its team of aerospace engineers are building an electric powered ecosystem for aviation, the heart of which is
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