Swedish hybrid-electric airplane maker, Heart Aerospace, has announced that it has raised a total of US$107 million in Series B funding. The new round brings the total financing raised by Heart Aerospace since its inception to US$145 million, representing a significant landmark in its goal of enabling more sustainable regional air travel with its ES-30 aircraft.
Among the new investors is Sagitta Ventures, a Danish investor focused on early-stage companies. Other investors include Air Canada, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, European Innovation Council Fund, EQT Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Norrsken VC, United Airlines, and Y Combinator.
Heart Aerospace intends to use the funds to further build its business and make progress toward type certification of the company’s first hybrid-electric regional airplane, designed for a seating capacity of 30 passengers.
The ES-30 is currently the only clean sheet hybrid-electric airplane of its size with an active type certification application with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The focus in the upcoming year will be on the development of Heart Aerospace’s hybrid- electric powertrain.
Heart Aerospace currently has 250 orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 planes. The company also has letters of intent for a further 191 airplanes.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this round,” said Anders Forslund, co-founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace. “This investment furthers our mission to decarbonise and democratise air travel. Air travel is globally 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.”
United Airlines Ventures’ managing director, Andrew Chang, explained the company’s investment: “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.”
Michael Rousseau, president & CEO at Air Canada added that, “Air Canada has adopted a multi-pronged approach to addressing its ambitious net-zero emissions by 2050 climate change goal, from advocating for commercial scaling of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, to active investment in a range of revolutionary new technologies. 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 US$5 million to advance the ES-30 aircraft towards type certification.”
Persson on board
In addition to announcing new funding, Heart Aerospace also said that EQT Ventures partner Ted Persson will be joining the company’s board of directors.
“As someone said, the stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones, and the fossil fuel age won’t end because we run out of fossil fuels. Heart Aerospace is taking decarbonisation to the skies and we’re proud to be funding technology that will fundamentally change the aviation industry,” said Ted Persson. “We believe that sustainable industrial and electrification solutions are not just the future; they are the present, and our investment strategy reflects our unwavering commitment to driving positive change in these critical sectors.”
“Ted brings to Heart Aerospace’s Board a wealth of expertise in product design, user experience, storytelling and branding,” said John Slattery, Chairman of Heart Aerospace’s Board of Directors. “We are delighted to have him on our team.”
