A start-up with a Concorde dream

Boom Technology was founded in Denver on 26 September 2014 by Blake Scholl, Joe Wilding and Josh Krall. It went through Y Combinator in 2016 and raised money from venture funds and, in 2017, from Japan Airlines. By 2025 it had raised more than 600 million dollars. The aim was simple to state and hard to do: the first supersonic airliner since Concorde was retired in 2003. Early investors included Y Combinator, Sam Altman and Paul Graham.

XB-1 goes supersonic

First came a one-third-scale proof. The XB-1, a three-engined demonstrator with General Electric J85s, was rolled out in October 2020 and, after delays, flew on 22 March 2024 from Mojave. On 28 January 2025 it broke the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.122, the first privately funded aircraft to do so according to Boom. Its last flight on 10 February 2025 reached Mach 1.18. It was the aircraft’s twelfth test flight, and on the final one NASA captured Schlieren images of its shock waves.

Overture and the superfactory

The airliner is the Overture, a delta-winged jet for 60 to 80 passengers at Mach 1.7. Boom says it holds 130 orders and pre-orders, including from United, American and Japan Airlines. Its Overture Superfactory at Greensboro, North Carolina, was completed in June 2024, and Boom is designing its own Symphony engine, which also spawned a natural-gas turbine for data centres. In September 2026, however, the data-centre company Crusoe abandoned a 1.25 billion dollar order for those turbines.

المصانع

• Overture Superfactory · Piedmont Triad International Airport, Greensboro, North Carolina — Construction completed June 2024
• Symphony engine test site · Colorado Air and Space Port — Former Reaction Engines facility acquired April 2025

الناس

• Blake Scholl · co-founder and CEO — Leads the company

الأرقام القياسية والأولويات

• XB-1: first privately funded aircraft to break the sound barrier, 28 January 2025, according to Boom