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Heart Aerospace
Company type	Private
Industry	Aircraft manufacturing
Founded	2019; 6 years ago
Founder	Anders Forslund; Klara Forslund;
Headquarters	Gothenburg, Sweden
Key people	John S. Slattery (Chairman); Anders Forslund (Founder CEO); Simon Newitt (President & CCO); Klara Fourslund (Co-Founder & CBO)
Number of employees	130 (2022)
Website	heartaerospace.com

Heart Aerospace is a Gothenburg, Sweden, based aerospace company. It is developing a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airplane.

Company

In addition to the main office in Gothenburg, the company also has a Research and Development hub in Los Angeles, United States. ^[1]

Heart Aerospace was founded in 2019 by Anders and Klara Forslund and by 2024 it had 100 employees. ^[2]

Product

Heart Aerospace is developing the ES-30, a 30-seat hybrid-electric regional airplane, which promises to deliver unparalleled sustainability and efficiency on short-haul routes. With an electric zero-emission range of 200 kilometers and an extended hybrid range of 400 kilometers it will dramatically reduce Co2 emissions from short-haul flights. A range of 800 km could be possible if only 25 passengers are carried.^[3]

Heart is targeting type certification of the ES-30 by the end of the decade, but already in 2024, the company revealed its first full-scale demonstrator airplane, Heart Experimental 1 (Heart X1). Heart X1 is scheduled to undertake a fully electric first flight in the second quarter of 2025. ^[4]

Heart’s next step in developing the ES-30 is the building of a pre-production prototype, Heart X2, which will further mature the design based on lessons learned from the Heart X1.^[5]

The Heart X2 is scheduled for a hybrid-electric flight in 2026 and will demonstrate the company’s Independent Hybrid propulsion system.^[6]^[7]

History

Heart Aerospace, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden was founded in 2019 by Anders and Klara Forslund. ^[8]

In 2021, the company raised a $35M in a Series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, United Airlines Ventures and Mesa Air Group Inc. In addition, Heart’s seed investors EQT Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital, participated in the round. ^[9]

In September 2022, Air Canada and Saab each invested $5 million in Heart Aerospace. In addition to its investment, Air Canada also placed a purchase order for 30 ES-30 aircraft. ^[10]

In 2024, the company raised a total of $107 million in Series B funding, bringing the total financing raised by Heart Aerospace since its inception to $145 million. Among new investors were Sagitta Ventures, a Danish investor focused on early-stage companies. Other investors included Air Canada, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, European Innovation Council Fund, EQT Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Norrsken VC, United Airlines, and Y Combinator. ^[11]

In May 2024, the company announced the opening of a new Research and Development hub in the United States.^[12]

Heart Aerospace has a total of 250 firm orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 planes.United Airlines and Mesa Airlines have each placed an order for 100 airplanes with an option for an additional 50 planes. Air Canada has placed an order for 30 ES-30 airplanes and Swedish leasing company Rockton has placed an order for 20 place with an option for an additional 20 planes. The company also has letters of intent for a further 191 airplanes. ^[13]^[14]^[15]