JetZero Raises $175 Million to Build the Aircraft That Could Replace Every Plane in the Sky

The Long Beach startup is betting that a radical "blended wing" design—50% more fuel efficient and decades in the making—will become the standard for commercial aviation by 2050

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — While the tech industry obsesses over the next AI model, a startup operating out of a hangar near Long Beach Airport is working on something far more tangible: redesigning the shape of the airplane itself.

JetZero announced this week that it has closed a $175 million Series B round led by B Capital, with participation from United Airlines Ventures, Northrop Grumman, 3M Ventures, Trucks VC, and RTX Ventures. The funding will accelerate development of the company’s Z4 airliner, a blended wing body aircraft that promises to cut fuel consumption by half compared to conventional jets.

“This is the future,” says JetZero’s CEO in a recent facility tour. “By 2050, we believe all planes coming off the line will be all-wing because it’s just that much more efficient.”

The Physics of a Frisbee

The science behind JetZero’s design is elegantly simple. Traditional aircraft—what engineers call “tube-and-wing” configurations—are essentially cylindrical fuselages with wings bolted on. The fuselage creates drag while the wings generate lift. It’s a compromise that has defined commercial aviation for nearly a century.