Riding a surge of interest in autonomous aviation for military applications, US start-up Merlin plans to become a publicly traded company.
Merlin has been developing autonomy technologies that can be applied to both military and civil applications. The company’s portfolio includes a fully autonomous flight control system called Merlin Pilot that is being tested and matured in a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.
On the military side, Merlin is testing methods for reducing the number of crew needed to safely operate large aircraft. The company is under contract to develop crew workload reduction technologies for the Lockheed Martin C-130J transport and Boeing KC-135 tanker.
Merlin Pilot has received experimental certification status with civil aviation regulators in both the USA and New Zealand, allowing for development of the new autonomy technology in the airspace of both countries.
Chief executive Matt George says the time is right for Merlin to go public, with the new investment helping the company to both mature and broaden its offerings.
“We believe our entrance into the public market will allow us to double down on our existing customers, expand the volume and types of platforms we support, and accelerate our revenue growth,” George says.
George adds that his aim is for Merlin to deliver the “operating system of record for aircraft big and small”.
Eschewing the traditional initial public offering process, Merlin will instead use the less conventional – and occasionally controversial – approach of merging with what is known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Shell companies which already exist as publicly traded entities, SPACs allow the merging start-up a faster and often cheaper route to accessing public markets. The practise became popular in the USA from 2020-2022, but has waned in more recent years.
Merlin says its SPAC offering is being managed by Inflection Point, a New York financial firm that has sponsored a number of other SPAC listings for technology companies.
The deal is expected to close in early 2026, giving Merlin a value of $800 million.
