Shares of electric aviation startup Beta Technologies fell on Tuesday after the company raised a whopping $1 billion and went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Vermont-based company priced its IPO stock at $34, above its expected range of $27 to $33. Beta Technologies sold 29.9 million shares, raising an additional $1 billion at a valuation of $7.4 billion.
Beta Technologies’ stock price fell at the start of trading, but then recovered, eventually closing at $36.
Beta Technologies’ public market debut marks the culmination of founder and CEO Kyle Clark’s nontraditional approach to building an airline. Clark, a Harvard-educated former professional hockey player and pilot instructor, founded Beta Technologies in 2017. He didn’t follow the typical path of a startup founder, eschewing Silicon Valley for his hometown in Vermont and bypassing venture capital. In return, Beta has raised the equivalent of $1.15 billion from institutional investors including Fidelity and Qatar Investment Authority. Amazon and General Electric are among the biggest investors in the beta.
In another unusual move, the company filed IPO paperwork despite the government shutdown. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance allowing companies considering an IPO to issue a statement containing a stock price that automatically becomes effective after 20 days without review by SEC staff. Several other companies, including Navan, are proceeding with IPO plans based on this rule.
The decision to proceed with this SEC guidance will mean a 20-day roadshow with investors, Clark told TechCrunch, adding that bank advisors told him it was unsafe to continue the roadshow for that long.
“And I said, ‘You know what? That’s not really the case. I think the more time we spend with investors, the better it is for Beta,'” Clark said in an interview Monday night. “As people start digging deeper into technology and strategy, we’re getting stronger and stronger, and our oversubscription speaks to that.”
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He told TechCrunch that his hope is for the stock to grow steadily and slowly, not a wild, uncontrolled rally.
Clark said he is now refocusing the company on commercial certification of electric aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Beta aims to become an OEM in the aviation field. The company has designed two electric aircraft so far. The conventional electric aircraft, called Alia CX300 eCTOL, is designed for regional flights. The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, called the Aria A250 eVTOL, is prepared for urban environments.
Beta is also building an EV aircraft charging business, of which Archer Aviation is a customer.
Beta’s IPO regulatory documents say the company is profitable but still far from profitability. Beta generated $15.6 million in revenue in the first half of 2025, double its revenue in the same period in 2024. Net losses also rose by about a third to $183 million in the first six months of the year.
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