Heart Aerospace

Heart Aerospace is a startup developing hybrid-electric regional aircraft. It is headquartered in Torrance, California, in the Los Angeles aerospace area. The site says the company was founded in 2019 and joined the Y Combinator W19 batch. Its main program is the ES-36 regional aircraft.

The site says the ES-36 is meant to lower the cost of air travel. It says all-electric routes would have zero CO2 emissions. The company describes an iterative development model based on rapid learning and validation. The first production aircraft named on the site was the ES-30, unveiled in 2022.

In September 2024 the company unveiled the Heart X1. The site describes it as a full-scale demonstrator of the ES-30 regional airliner configuration. In October 2024 the company completed ground handling and charging tests to see how electric aircraft would fit into airline operations.

The company says it is backed by $190 million in mission-aligned capital. A $35 million Series A in July 2021 was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with strategic investment from United Airlines and Mesa Air Group. A $107 million Series B in February 2024 funded the Heart X1 and the ES-30 program.

The site lists a Los Angeles pilot plant in Torrance, a propulsion test site in Oxnard and an X1 flight test base in Plattsburgh, New York. It says the first subscale test flight took place in December 2021. A Los Angeles R&D center opened in May 2024.

The site has pages for the company, the ES-36, a newsroom, careers and a media bank. It lists LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Investor, press and recruiting inquiries each have their own contact route on the site.