Beta Is Turning Its eVTOL Competitors into Customers

Beta Technologies has built a business selling motors, batteries, propellers, and flight control computers to other aircraft manufacturers, several of which compete directly with the electric airplanes Beta is still working to certify.

Founder and CEO Kyle Clark and chief financial officer Herman Cueto laid out that business on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on August 12. Cueto said those component sales carry gross margins of 40% to 60%. “When you get into flight control computers, the margin is actually a lot higher,” he said.

Component sales, alongside charging hardware and engineering services, help explain a quarter in which Beta reported revenue of $14.7 million—above its own guidance range of $8 million to $11 million and 146% higher than the $6 million it recorded a year earlier. Beta raised full-year revenue guidance to a range of $42 million to $50 million.

Clark listed off what the company has sold to outside customers so far: motors, propellers, inverters, high-voltage systems, flight control computers, batteries, data acquisition systems, chargers, and flight test engineering services. Buyers named on the call include Eve Air Mobility, Horizon Aircraft, and General Dynamics—a defense contractor alongside two companies developing eVTOL aircraft that will compete with Beta’s own Alia aircraft. 

All of that revenue arrives while Beta’s own aircraft—the Alia 250 eVTOL and CX300 electric airplane—and the electric pusher motor that powers them have yet to be certified. The South Burlington, Vermont-based company intends to certify the H500A motors and CX300 airplane with the FAA this year, followed by the eVTOL model about a year later.

Eve Air Mobility, the Embraer subsidiary developing an eVTOL air taxi, is using Beta’s electric motors. For Virginia-based General Dynamics, Clark said Beta has moved into a second phase of classified work and a first phase of a separate hardware program, and that undersea applications have become a growing area.

Shortly after the quarter closed, Beta announced a sale of flight control computers and software licensing to Ontario-based Horizon Aircraft for its Cavorite X7 eVTOL aircraft. Clark described Horizon as the third major aircraft program flying Beta flight control computers, leaving at least one customer unnamed. Asked by Bank of America analyst Ronald Epstein about Heart Aerospace, which flew its X1 electric demonstrator from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York on August 12, Clark said he could not comment on the extent of Beta’s supply to that company.

A customer that designs its flight control software around Beta motors cannot easily swap in a rival’s system, Clark said, because that software is tuned to parameters such as motor torque and ramp rates. Changing the motor means changing what the flight control computer runs. Clark called those sales “extremely sticky.” Beta’s aim, he said, is to get its parts selected while a customer’s aircraft is still being designed, because a component chosen at that stage keeps earning revenue on every aircraft that program later builds.

Selling parts to rivals is not itself unusual in electric aviation. Everett, Washington-based MagniX has built its business supplying electric propulsion without developing an aircraft of its own. What separates Beta is that it is attempting both at once, while its own certification programs remain unfinished.

Beta is also buying capability. Its quarterly report filed with the SEC identifies the acquisition behind a $16.1 million research-and-development charge as Biocogniv, a fellow South Burlington company that applies agentic artificial intelligence to safety-critical software development. Biocogniv began in medical diagnostics before turning its AI tooling toward compliance documentation for regulated industries. The filing says the purchase—Class A stock valued at $10.8 million plus cash—will help accelerate software development supporting aircraft certification.

In addition to electric aircraft and components, Beta builds aircraft charging infrastructure that its competitors use as well. The company ended the quarter with 138 charging sites and began delivering a 34-charger order for the Florida Department of Transportation, which Cueto said contributed to the revenue beat.

Last month, Beta joined San Jose, California-based Archer Aviation and Macquarie Capital in America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways, which aims to deploy up to 250 charging sites across California, Texas, Florida, and New York. Archer, developing the Midnight eVTOL air taxi and competing for many of the same customers as Beta, identifies where the chargers go. Clark said Archer knows which locations matter in major cities, Macquarie Capital brings financing, and Beta builds the hardware. 

What Comes Next

Beta posted a second-quarter net loss of $148.8 million, and its maximum demonstrated production rate was unchanged from the prior quarter. Clark called the flat rate deliberate, saying the most valuable work on the floor now is securing long-lead materials, qualifying suppliers, and staging production lines so the factory is ready when the ramp comes.

The company expects to begin flying in Louisiana and Texas within four to six weeks under the FAA’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), with operators including Metro Aviation, Bristow, and FutureFlight Global. Beta flew the eIPP’s first operations in July, carrying manufactured organs for United Therapeutics under Part 91 rules. A second phase moves that flying to Part 135, the rules governing commuter and on-demand operations.

Beta’s defense business leans on the same parts. The MV250, an autonomous hybrid-electric military aircraft unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow on July 20, draws on the batteries, motors, and flight control computers already flying on the company’s civil aircraft, along with its wings, booms, and tail. Its turbogenerator comes out of a joint technology development agreement with GE Aerospace, and Beta has integrated Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy suite for military missions. Clark said the MV250 on display at the Farnborough show drew interest from senior U.S. military leaders and from foreign militaries.

On August 4, Beta and the Export-Import Bank of the United States announced their intent to expand an existing financing relationship to up to $1 billion in net financing, roughly $830 million of which is incremental. Beta said proceeds would go toward doubling manufacturing throughput and scaling propulsion production for international customers. Cueto cautioned that the parties have not signed definitive documents and said they plan to meet in the coming weeks.