Archer buys former rival Wisk Aero
The two companies were once embroiled in a trade secret theft lawsuit. Now, Wisk is being absorbed into Archer.
Three years following a trade secret lawsuit settlement, electric aircraft company Archer Aviation has acquired its former rival, Wisk Aero. Under the agreement, Boeing will sell Wisk Aero and two other subsidiaries, SkyGrid and Insitu, to Archer in exchange for a minority ownership stake. The deal also grants Boeing newly issued Archer shares worth 19.75% of the company's shares outstanding immediately before closing, equating to roughly 16.5% ownership after the acquisition.
This capstone to a once-turbulent relationship between the two electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft developers comes after a 2021 trade secret lawsuit, where Wisk alleged Archer stole confidential information and intellectual property. Settling in April 2021, Archer agreed to give Wisk exclusive rights to its autonomous technology and allowed Wisk to purchase up to 13,176,636 shares at $0.01 per share.
The lawsuit began in 2019 when Wisk Aero, initially Kittyhawk, a startup co-founded by Sebastian Thrun and Larry Page, and later backed by Google, was developing autonomous electric aircraft. Kittyhawk's Cora program, a two-person autonomous flying taxi, was later spun off into a joint venture with Boeing, which was renamed Wisk in 2020.
Archer's electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle program has since expanded to include the defense sector, with a $430 million investment in December 2024 and another $300 million in 2025.
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