Business
Flying taxi Midnight on display at GITEX Global
Archer’s Midnight aircraft on display (Rabia Aydogdu/Getty Images)

Archer Aviation strikes deal to supply electric propulsion system to Anduril, bolstering its path to revenue

Archer Aviation announced its new agreement with Anduril after the market closed on Monday.

Max Knoblauch

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation on Monday announced a deal to supply private defense contractor Anduril with its electric power train, marking the first time Archer will make that tech available to a third party.

The deal will help bolster a path to revenue for Archer, which recently said it expects to start generating revenue in Q1 of 2026.

“While most see our Midnight eVTOL as an aircraft, we view Midnight as a platform that plays host to a wide range of new and exciting aerospace technologies that will be leveraged way beyond our own aircraft,” Archer CEO Adam Goldstein said in a statement. “Our power train deal with Anduril is the first of what we expect to be many examples of this.”

According to the announcement, Archer’s power train tech will be used on Anduril’s autonomous “hover-to-cruise” drone, Omen. Anduril announced the vehicle last week as the first product to come out of its joint venture with the UAE’s defense conglomerate, EDGE Group, targeting 2028 for full-scale production. The companies say the UAE has “committed to an initial acquisition of 50 Omen systems.”

In an interview with Sherwood News in July, Goldstein said he believes the company’s defense business could be larger than its commercial air taxi business for at least the next decade.

Archer shares have fallen about 24% since the beginning of the year.

More Business

See all Business
Hyunsoo Rim
big red button
5/22/26
Kraft Heinz is bringing back the glass ketchup bottle as it leans on sauces for growth

The Pittsburgh-born sauce giant is turning 157 this year.

Oversize Heinz ketchup bottle displayed at Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh
Millie Giles
BED, BREAKFAST, AND BEYOND
5/22/26
Airbnb is expanding its hotel offerings and adding car rentals to its app

As cities crack down on listings, the homestay platform is attempting to become an “everything app” for travel.

View of man talking with couple in car
Millie Giles
BATTLE OF THE BRANDS
5/20/26
Which companies have the best and worst reputations, according to Americans?

The 2026 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation ranking suggests the US prefers Big Tech to Big Media.

Handshake
Max Knoblauch
5/19/26
Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
business
Tom Jones

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC