# Archer used a SPAC to raise more than private funding offered

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/archer-used-a-spac-to-raise-more-than-private-funding/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Brett Adcock](https://realalpha.app/builders/brett-adcock/) · Brett Adcock is founder and CEO of Figure. · Founded Figure AI to build general-purpose humanoid robots; previously co-founded Archer Aviation and Vettery.
- Host: [Shawn Ryan](https://realalpha.app/people/shawn-ryan/) · Host, The Shawn Ryan Show
- Show: The Shawn Ryan Show
- Episode: [Brett Adcock - Shawn Ryan’s First Interview with a Robot | SRS #292](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/), Mar 30, 2026
- Moment: 35:25 to 38:35 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/archer-used-a-spac-to-raise-more-than-private-funding/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2125

## Quote

> “we ended up going public and **raising a billion dollars**”
> — [Brett Adcock](https://realalpha.app/builders/brett-adcock/) at [37:17](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2237) · The Shawn Ryan Show

## Takeaways

1. Private funding would have brought in about $100 million.
2. A SPAC gave Archer a path to raise roughly $1 billion.
3. Adcock put most of his Vettery proceeds into Archer.

## About this segment

Private financing offered about $100 million at a $300–500 million valuation; a SPAC let Archer raise $1 billion. Brett Adcock put most of his Vettery proceeds into the company.

From “Brett Adcock - Shawn Ryan’s First Interview with a Robot | SRS #292”, Mar 30, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[35:33](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2133) So you know SPACs at a time like four or five years ago were all the rage. And it was a special purpose acquisition company. So it was basically companies that were going public through a merger, a reverse merger. And it was hard because in 2018, 2019, coming off of software, I had never done hardware before. So A, it was like hard to raise capital. And B, there was nobody funding like deep tech, electric vertical takeoff and landing, like companies.

[36:03](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2163) Like, you know what I mean? The big venture capital groups were not funding SpaceX or Tesla or Rivian, like none of these were getting funded by traditional investors. They weren't raising money from the named investors we all know about now. Oh shit, are they always behind like that? The mandate for most of these VCs in the Bay Area, or Silicon Valley and stuff, are not to do hardware. They don't really...

[36:23](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2183) And if they do hardware, they don't do deep tech. They don't do like rockets and autonomous vehicles. And I don't think there's a single, you know, top VC in the U.S. that's invested in a humanoid company. No shit. And as of last six months ago now, nothing. Like, they just don't do this stuff. And so, like, I ended up going all... So, you know, like, you know, made, just made $110 million and, or just sold the company for $110 million.

[36:51](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2211) I made a lot of money, like, personally. Ended up going all in on Archer through the IPO, like, through going public. I, I put, like, all, all the money I basically had. I bought a house and the rest of the money went all into it. And, and it was a stressful period. So we went, we went public through a SPAC. And the reason it was tough is we ended up getting to a point where we just couldn't raise enough money privately.

[37:12](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2232) like it was uh it was either like raise you know 100 million dollars privately at like you know some valuation three four or five hundred million dollars or or is like go public and raise like a billion dollars wow and uh we ended up going public and raising a billion dollars wow um you've got a huge appetite for risk and we got sued during it oh really yeah like we got sued by uh basically like boeing and a big uh big startup that was founded by larry page google founder. And, um, that's gotta be intimidating. Yeah. It was, uh, I woke up to like a front page of New York times article about, oh shit. Yeah. It was, uh, it was crazy. I mean, the backstory is I, um, the, I took, so Larry Page started a company and, um, in the Bay area about 10 years ago called Kitty Hawk. And they were the, like, they did a great work over like 10 years in

[38:00](https://realalpha.app/v/99pOdGEGu6s/?t=2280) electric, like VTOL aircraft. And, um, I ended up taking, I ended up taking basically the, the core 10 to 15 folks that were there all came over to Archer within the first two years. Wow. And they retaliated by just trying to harass us while we were going public. And so, yeah, it was just a crazy story, getting public. Ended up getting public, you know, billion dollars on the balance sheet. And we just started building like aircraft and started building the service like thinking about