Archer partners with South Korea’s KakaoMobility in $250 million eVTOL deal

California electric takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Archer Aviation has signed an accord with South Korea’s transportation service company KakaoMobility to prepare air taxi services in the nation, worth about $250 million in plane sales.

Santa Clara, CA-based Archer said the agreement covers the range of activity necessary to begin testing and demonstrating eVTOL aircraft in South Korea, and preparing the launch of air taxi services slated for 2026. As part of the deal, KakaoMobility committed to buying up to 50 of Archer’s Midnight battery-powered planes, worth an estimated $250 million.

The partnership falls under South Korea’s government-orchestrated K-UAM Grand Challenge, which seeks to promote the introduction and scaling of drone, eVTOL, and other next generation transportation technologies and services. KakaoMobility, a ride hailing tech service platform, boasts 30 million registered users of it Kakao T mobile app, which will eventually be broadened to reserve Archer air taxi journeys.

The duo and its partners will begin demonstration flights later this year, and work towards establishing a network of air taxi routes in South Korea, starting with Seoul. Archer and KakaoMobility join eVTOL makers Volocopter, EHang, and Joby in pursuing the objective of lifting the capital’s daily commuters—many of whom spend a daily average of 90 minutes stuck in traffic—into the skies above the bottlenecks.

The link-up will also provide Archer up-front funding that will be useful in its drive to complete development and testing of its Midnight aircraft, and obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification ahead of planned 2025 service launch. Under their agreement, KakaoMobility will pay the company $7 million later this year to underwrite the first demonstration flights, with additional advanced payments on its planes scheduled for early 2025.

“Our partnership with Archer is a leap forward for urban mobility,” said Christopher SungWook Chang, senior vice president of KakaoMobility. “We can’t wait to debut Archer’s Midnight Aircraft at the K-UAM Grand Challenge in 2024 as a commitment to transforming the daily commute for millions of Kakao T users. The vision is clear – reduce the hours lost in traffic and elevate everyday travel with an electric air taxi service that features Archer’s Midnight aircraft.”

In addition to generating eVTOL development and production funding, its South Korea partnership with KakaoMobile provides Archer another international foothold it can rely on to scale its air taxi services globally, after their planned launch in the U.S. next year.

“Archer is expanding its international launch strategy to South Korea through this landmark partnership between Archer Aviation and KakaoMobility,” said Archer chief commercial officer Nikhil Goel. “Together, we are committed to revolutionizing transportation with Archer’s eVTOL aircraft, ushering in a future of cleaner, faster, and more efficient travel between and within Korean cities.”