Boom Supersonic, a US-based supersonic aviation developer backed by air carrier Japan Airlines and travel agency Ctrip, closed a $100m series B round on Friday led by impact investment firm Emerson Collective.
Y Combinator Continuity, the mid-stage venture capital fund operated by accelerator Y Combinator, also took part in the round alongside venture capital firms Caffeinated Capital and SV Angel and assorted angel investors.
Founded in 2014, Boom is working on a supersonic jet called Overture that will reach Mach 2.2 while producing the same carbon footprint as business class travel today, and which will be able to use sustainable alternative fuels.
Overture is scheduled to begin passenger flights in the mid-2020s, and Boom is currently assembling a prototype set for take-off later this year. Japan Airlines and diversified conglomerate Virgin have already pre-ordered a total of 30 Overture airliners.
The series B funding will go toward the continued development of Overture and enable Boom to double its headcount to about 200 over the course of 2019. The company has now raised more than $141m in funding, it said this week.
Ctrip provided an undisclosed amount of funding for the company in April 2018, after Japan Airlines had invested $10m in the company in late 2017.
Boom had received $33m in a series A round in March the same year backed by Caffeinated Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, Palm Drive Ventures, RRE Ventures and 8VC. Its earlier investors include Lightbank.
