Archer Aviation Buys Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu From Boeing
Archer Aviation buys Boeing’s Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu, giving Boeing a 16.5% stake as Archer expands across air taxis, autonomy and its defense program.
Summary
On August 10, 2026, three years after settling their trade secret fight, Archer Aviation agreed to acquire former rival Wisk Aero plus Boeing subsidiaries SkyGrid, which makes digital airspace and air traffic management software, and drone maker Insitu. Boeing will exchange the businesses for newly issued Archer shares equal to 19.75% of shares outstanding immediately before closing, leaving it about 16.5% afterward, according to a regulatory filing and a person familiar with the matter. In April 2021, Wisk accused Archer of stealing confidential information and intellectual property; two years of litigation ended Wisk’s case and Archer’s $1 billion countersuit, made Wisk Archer’s exclusive autonomous technology provider and gave Wisk an option for up to 13,176,636 common shares at $0.01 each.
Wisk began as Kittyhawk, led by Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of Alphabet’s X, and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. It developed the single-seat, all-electric vertical takeoff and landing Flyer, the more capable, quieter, once-secret Heaviside that could fly and land anywhere autonomously, and two-person autonomous Cora. Kittyhawk closed in September 2022, but Cora had been spun into a Boeing joint venture in late 2019, renamed Wisk to commercialize electric self-flying taxis. Boeing invested millions, including another $450 million in early 2022, and wholly owned Wisk by 2023.
California-based Archer, founded in 2018 and public since a 2021 blank-check merger, broadened from an air-taxi network into defense, raising $430 million in December 2024 for Archer Defense and $300 million in 2025 from institutional investors including BlackRock and Wellington. Its exclusive Anduril partnership is developing a hybrid gas-and-electric VTOL for critical defense applications, while all-electric Midnight completed an August 2026 piloted round trip between Salinas Municipal and Monterey Regional airports. Archer plans operations later in 2026 under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.
Positives
- Archer gains Wisk’s autonomous air-taxi program, SkyGrid’s airspace software and Insitu’s drone business in one stock transaction.
- Boeing will retain about 16.5% of Archer after transferring the three subsidiaries.
- Midnight completed a piloted round trip between Salinas Municipal and Monterey Regional airports in August 2026.
- Archer raised $430 million in December 2024 for Archer Defense and another $300 million in 2025.
- Anduril and Archer are exclusively developing a hybrid gas-and-electric VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications.
Risks & concerns
- Newly issued Boeing shares will equal 19.75% of Archer’s pre-closing outstanding shares, diluting existing stockholders.
- Wisk’s April 2021 intellectual property lawsuit and Archer’s $1 billion countersuit consumed two years before settlement.
- The settlement gave Wisk an option for up to 13,176,636 Archer shares at only $0.01 each.
- Midnight operations remain planned rather than launched, with Archer targeting later in 2026 under a White House pilot program.
- The supplied article provides no transaction valuation or expected closing date.