Electric Aircraft Upstart Beta Rises In First-Day Trading

Shares of electric aircraft company Beta Technologies rose slightly in first-day trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, amid a down day for the overall tech sector.

The stock closed at $36 per share up 6% for the day. Beta priced shares for its offering at $34 each late Monday, slightly above the top of the projected range. The IPO brought in just over $1 billion for the South Burlington, Vermont-based company, which trades under the ticker symbol BETA.

Founded in 2017, Beta designs and manufactures electric aircraft, electric propulsion systems, charging systems and components. It operates a Vermont facility designed to support production of more than 300 aircraft annually, with permits to potentially double in size.

Beta cites four industry use cases for its aircraft: cargo and logistics, medical transport, defense, and passenger transportation. On the passenger side, the company says it is poised to benefit from growth in demand for flights of 300 miles or less, currently about a fifth of air travel trips.

While not quite a pre-revenue company, it isn’t expected to report significant revenue for several years. For the first half of 2025, Beta had $15.6 million in revenue, roughly double year-earlier levels. Since its aircraft are not yet commercially operating, revenue comes from other sources, including sales of motors, and engineering and consulting services.

Beta’s net loss for the first six months of the year was $159 million, up from $124 million in the same period last year.

Prior to the IPO, Beta was a large fundraiser over the years, pulling in more than $1.6 billion in known equity funding. Its last financing was a $300 million General Electric-backed investment in September.

Per Beta’s IPO prospectus, investors also hold considerable stakes in the company. Among its  largest venture and corporate stakeholders are Fidelity (14.5% of Class A shares, pre-IPO), General Electric (10.2%), TPG Rise Climate Fund (8.8%), and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund (6.3%).

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Illustration: Dom Guzman