Archer’s Place in the Race
Archer Aviation (ACHR) is the other big Western eVTOL name, the one that gets raised whenever someone asks who could challenge Joby Aviation (JOBY). The Uber Air pitch from The Crow’s Nest is really about Joby, but understanding Archer matters because it is the measuring stick the whole sector uses. Here is what Archer is, how it compares, and what the promotion gets right about this two-horse race.
Archer is building an aircraft called Midnight, an electric vertical takeoff and landing design aimed at short urban hops. The company’s pitch is a scheduled air-taxi network in major cities, and its most important asset is a pair of heavyweight backers. Stellantis is its manufacturing partner and holds roughly a 10.4 percent stake. United Airlines, through United Airlines Ventures, has ordered the aircraft and placed a bet on the service. In total Archer has raised more than $1.1 billion, and its FAA certification is in progress.
How the Backing Compares
Archer’s backing is substantial but different in character from Joby’s. Stellantis brings automotive-scale manufacturing know-how, which matters when the goal is building hundreds of aircraft on a line rather than hand-assembling a handful. United brings route networks and airport demand, the places where a shuttle service would actually launch. That combination is why Archer is treated as the credible challenger rather than an also-ran.
Joby’s list, by contrast, runs through Toyota, Delta, Uber, and the U.S. Air Force. The two companies have assembled nearly mirror-image coalitions, one anchored on automotive manufacturing and one on a broader web of transport and government partners. The sector is genuinely contested, which is one reason the promo’s confident, single-winner framing deserves a second look. We compared the two in depth in our Joby vs Archer piece.
What the Pitch Gets Right
The Uber Air pitch is correct that eVTOL is a real race with a real leader and a real challenger. It is also correct that the category’s fate turns on FAA Type Certification, the approval that converts a test program into a revenue business. Both companies are working through that process now, and the first to clear it will have a genuine head start on the shuttle routes that actually exist, airport connectors like Manhattan to JFK and Downtown Dallas.
What the pitch does less well is the price story. The promo teases a “$10 startup” climbing “to OVER $200,” a number built on assumptions about fleet size and per-aircraft profit that no eVTOL company has come close to proving. Archer is part of why that math is so hard: a second, well-funded competitor bidding for the same city routes makes the winner-take-all economics the tease implies less likely, not more.
Where Archer Stands Today
Archer has not yet reported meaningful commercial revenue, and its Midnight aircraft is still moving toward production, which is normal for the stage the company occupies. Its progress is real but early, and it is best described by its backing, its certification status, and its design rather than by any share price or revenue figure that changes week to week.
For the full picture on the company the promo is actually selling, our Joby Aviation stock analysis breaks down the tease price, the fleet math, and what the $200 claim would actually require.
The Honest Read
Archer is a serious company with serious partners, and it deserves a place on any eVTOL watch list alongside Joby. But being the credible number two in a pre-revenue sector is not the same as being a buy. The certification milestone, the first real routes, and the first commercial revenue will tell investors far more than the promo’s headline number does. Watch those dates, not the tease.
The Risks Specific to Archer
Every eVTOL company faces the same gauntlet, but Archer has a few risks that are its own. The first is the production gap. Archer is still moving its Midnight aircraft toward production, which means it has not yet proven it can build the thing at volume, and the Stellantis partnership, strong as it is, has not been tested at scale. The second is certification timing, where Joby holds a lead, and where any further slip would widen the gap rather than close it.
The third is the challenger discount. In a sector where the leader, Joby Aviation (JOBY), has the earliest revenue and a much larger cash cushion, Archer has to win share against a better-funded rival on the same airport routes. That is a winnable fight, but it is a fight. None of this makes Archer a bad company; it just makes it an earlier-stage one, and the honest way to hold that fact is to treat Archer as a watch-list name until certification, production, and first revenue are actually in hand.
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