Californian hybrid-electric aircraft developer Ampaire has closed a $19 million Series B funding round, bringing the total capital it has raised to date to $68 million. The round was led by DiamondStream Partners, and it drew in the venture capital arms of two of the airline industry's more active corporate investors.
IAG and Alaska Airlines both participated, joining Forward Ventures, Techstars Ventures, the Autodesk Foundation Impact Fund and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund. Airline-backed venture funds have become an increasingly common feature of early-stage aviation technology financing, giving carriers a low-cost seat at the table on propulsion and sustainability programmes that could eventually reshape regional flying.
Ampaire says the money will be used to accelerate the commercial readiness of its AMP-H570 hybrid-electric propulsion system. Rather than designing a clean-sheet airframe, the company is retrofitting the system into the Cessna Grand Caravan β a strategy that lets it work with an already-certified, widely operated aircraft instead of taking on the cost and timeline of certifying a new type. Ampaire calls the resulting aircraft the Eco Caravan, and says the hybrid system is intended to halve fuel consumption.
That retrofit-first approach is a deliberate contrast with much of the electric aviation sector. All-electric designs remain constrained by battery energy density, which limits useful range and payload on anything larger than a small trainer. A hybrid-electric powertrain sidesteps the worst of that constraint by keeping a fuel-burning element in the loop while using electric assistance to cut consumption β a less dramatic proposition than fully electric flight, but a considerably nearer-term one.
The Cessna 208B Grand Caravan is a logical target. The single-engine high-wing turboprop is a mainstay of regional passenger, cargo and utility operations around the world, from Alaskan bush routes to island-hopping networks and feeder freight. Its operators tend to fly short sectors at modest speeds, exactly the profile where a hybrid system's fuel savings compound quickly and where fuel is often the dominant operating cost.
Ampaire is also one of the startups selected to take part in the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), a US government initiative backed by the Federal Aviation Administration that is intended to help advance the development and integration of new air mobility technologies. Separately, the company is working on applying its hybrid-electric technology to auxiliary power units β the small turbines that supply electrical power and air conditioning while an aircraft is parked on the ground, and a meaningful source of airport-level emissions and noise.
Whether hybrid-electric regional aircraft reach the operating fleet in volume remains an open question, and certification of a modified propulsion system is a long road. But by anchoring its work to an existing airframe with a large installed base, Ampaire has picked a path with a clearer route to revenue than most of its peers.
Sources: AeroTime. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Daniel Okafor.
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