Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and chief executive of the Rhode Island seaglider company Regent, came back on TBPN days after closing a Series B. He walked through what a pre-revenue company with a real order book tells investors, why the defense product needs an engine the commercial one does not, why the international backlog now exceeds the domestic one, and why certifying as a vessel rather than an aircraft is the whole design decision. The news discussion the hosts ran earlier in the show is covered in a separate summary.
👤 Guest: Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and chief executive of Regent, which builds all-electric seagliders in Rhode Island and is on his third appearance on the show
🎙️ Hosts: John Coogan and Jordi Hays, who present TBPN live on X and YouTube every weekday
📰 Published: 31 August 2026 on YouTube (TBPN)
🔴 YouTube | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Show notes | ⏱️ 2 hr 24 min
Key Takeaways
Regent is pre-revenue but not pre-cash, and that is what it sells to investors
"Yeah. Well, we do have money coming in the door, importantly." — firm orders with nonrefundable deposits behind them
"We have about 10,000,000,000 in the backlog there."
The defense product is the commercial product with most of the batteries taken out
"On the defense version, we'll put about 20% of the batteries in." — the rest of the space becomes an engine and fuel system
Range goes from 180 miles on the commercial version to "about 1,600 statute miles" with the engine fitted
The Indo-Pacific is why the engine exists
Battery range is fine for regional commercial routes — "But on the military side, like we need to go from Guam to the first island chain."
The international order book is now larger than the domestic one
"And very few people know this, but there are as many ferry passengers per year as airplane passengers"
"For cargo, there's 90 plus percent of cargo that goes over the coastlines."
The Gulf is a manufacturing plan, not just a sales market
A joint venture in Abu Dhabi is already set up to scale production after Rhode Island
Certifying as a vessel rather than an aircraft removes the training problem that stalls electric aviation
"So all you need to do is drive a boat." — the controls are left and right, fast and slow, even in flight
He thinks the consumer drone videos are bad for the industry, not exciting
He watched a drone fall out of the sky at a Middle East air show standing next to Archer's chief executive
"Like, aerospace is held to a higher standard."
The Round Closed, and the Pitch Is That the Money Is Already Coming In
Coogan asked for the news and Thalheimer led with the raise: "We just wrapped up our $240,000,000 series b."
Coogan's follow-up was the hard one — the company is pre-revenue, a consumer cannot go and try the product, and yet it has a large backlog. What are investors underwriting?
"Yeah. Well, we do have money coming in the door, importantly. Right? So we have, commercial customers. We have about 10,000,000,000 in the backlog there."
The distinguishing feature is that the orders are firm. "But one of the unique things about Regent is we have firm orders, like actual orders, nonrefundable deposits."
"Customers are, putting down we have over 10,000,000 in the bank now that are backing our backlog now, multiple years now of, delivery from our manufacturing building."
The defense book is smaller and moving faster. "And on the defense side now, up to about 20,000,000 in orders, majority with the Marine Corps, but we have some really big announcements on the horizon here."
Coogan noted that a company like this would normally be on net-60 terms and is instead collecting up front, which he called good
Rhode Island Turned Into a Maritime-Defense Cluster While Nobody Was Looking
"We're based in Rhode Island. Rhode Island has really been put on the map lately. We're leading in maritime and defense."
"Anduril moved into town."
"Like, you go out on Narragansett Bay and you're gonna see all sorts of drone boats out there and subs and sea gliders too."
The company is about 120 people and about to grow. With the Series B closed, Thalheimer said hiring accelerates
The constraint is a factory that needs filling. "And the whole point for us is we have this quarter million square foot factory here. That's gonna be building our Seagliders, both our large Viceroys, the small Squires."
The Defense Version Trades Batteries for Range, Because Guam Is Not a Commuter Route
Hays put the tension to him: the administration is receptive to buying from young companies but not enthusiastic about electric technology, and a founder he had spoken to said gas engines simply work better for small military drones — longer endurance, adequate energy density, an existing supply chain.
Thalheimer said the company reached the same conclusion on its own terms. The markets it is going after mean "moving across thousands of miles across the Indo Pacific, hopping between these islands", which is beyond "the couple 100 mile range we get out of batteries, which is really good for commercial"
"That's your regional range where you're stuck between a car and an airplane."
"But on the military side, like we need to go from Guam to the first island chain. Like we're going across the Pacific here."
Regent Defense was announced about a year ago and the hybrid was the point of it. There is a conceptual design and supply-chain work underway on "an engine, a fuel engine system that works with our electric propulsion system on the front end, extending our range out to about 1,600 statute miles"
Coogan asked whether the Chinese range-extender pattern — an EV with a small gas engine that only charges the battery — generalizes. Thalheimer said it depends on the application, and gave the dual-use rule instead
"And I think like to be successful in dual use, and there are a few companies that can really say this, is like as much consistency between the commercial and defense products as possible, like as much shared BOM, like basically the same SKU."
"And in the commercial version, we're going load it up with batteries and it will go 180 miles."
"On the defense version, we'll put about 20% of the batteries in." Those still handle takeoff and landing
The electric propulsion system stays either way, and he listed why it matters militarily: "We still have that electric propulsion system, is super quiet, super low maintenance, low thermal signature, all these great things."
The Commercial Market Is Every Coastline, and Most of It Is Not in America
Coogan asked where the commercial backlog actually sits, and how much the assumptions have changed under negotiation.
The founding routes were the ones the founders were personally annoyed by. Growing up and at school around Boston it was Boston to New York; while raising money it was Los Angeles to San Francisco. "Yeah. We're raising money. We're all like, between those are total pain points."
The likely US launch market has moved south. "And so that's evolved into Miami to West Palm and The Bahamas as a likely US launch market throughout New England, right, like Boston and Rhode Island and Connecticut down to New York, and certainly some West Coast routes, and obviously Hawaii as well, Pacific Northwest too."
The surprise was the size of the rest of the world. "The international order book and backlog is actually much larger than the domestic one."
"And very few people know this, but there are as many ferry passengers per year as airplane passengers, which is like wild as an American to think that the coastal market is that big."
"For cargo, there's 90 plus percent of cargo that goes over the coastlines. Almost half the world lives in coastal populations. It's just like how humanity settled the world."
The named regions are the Mediterranean, Japan and the Pacific
"So it's not just an island hopping machine. It's like anywhere there is coastline and humans live and trade on coastlines, that's our commercial market."
The Gulf Is a Second Factory, Not Just a Sales Territory
Coogan asked whether Middle East interest is holding up or slowing with regional conflict.
"The Middle East has been a big part of our strategy for a long time, actually." The company has spent a lot of time there and has a relationship with the Strategic Development Fund in Abu Dhabi
Manufacturing follows the order book. The Series B funds the first global manufacturing center in Rhode Island, but international expansion is already planned: "So we've set up a joint venture in Abu Dhabi where we're to be scaling manufacturing from there."
"So The Gulf is going to be huge, not just for manufacturing but also commercially like Dubai, Abu Dhabi. That is a pain point route too. Crazy traffic on that route."
Hays backed it from experience — staying in Dubai for a Formula One weekend in Abu Dhabi, the drive was brutal in both directions, against a ten-minute flight
Electric Aviation Is Stuck on Training and Reserve Fuel; a Seaglider Sidesteps Both
Coogan asked, off the business, whether recreational aviation is about to get its Model 3 — a friendly electric equivalent of a Cessna 172.
Thalheimer, a pilot whose co-founder and much of the team are pilots, said there are electric trainers already and that the aircraft is not the obstacle.
The time cost is the licence. "It's the training, tons of time to go out, get your pilot's license, learn how to fly, learn how to do the controls, learn how to navigate airspace, talk to air traffic controllers, etcetera. So that is the big time sync."
The energy cost is the reserve requirement. Batteries have to carry not just the trip but the diversion: "And then as I'm flying to my airport, all aircraft need reserve fuel. So if I'm flying to my airport, my airport's occupied or, like, something's wrong with it, I need enough fuel to fly and land somewhere else."
Coogan offered a golf course as the alternative landing site; Hays said that only works if you are Harrison Ford
The design answer is jurisdictional. "And by building sea gliders, we solve those problems because we certify, under Coast Guard jurisdiction as a vessel, not an aircraft. Our digital flight controls enable it."
"So all you need to do is drive a boat. When you're operating it, even when you're flying, the only controls are boat controls, left and right, fast and slow. And so that's what's going to open it up to everyone."
The Consumer Drone Videos Worry Him, and He Has Watched One Fall Out of the Sky
Hays and Coogan brought up the Chinese quadcopters big enough to sit in, and a video of two men who bought a passenger drone from Temu, flew it by remote control and crashed it.
Thalheimer had a first-hand version. At an air show in the Middle East, standing next to Archer's Adam Goldstein, they watched a drone fall out of the sky mid-competition
"Fortunately, no one was on board. We look at each other like, what is going on here?"
"Like, a, this never flies in America. This would never pass any certification."
His objection is industry-level, not aesthetic. "But, like, crazy stuff like that going on is actually not good for the industry. Like, aerospace is held to a higher standard. There's a reason why aerospace is known for its safety and commercial aviation is the safest way to travel."
Regent holds itself to the same bar because of what it is doing. "Even with us in the maritime domain, we're taking a similarly safe approach because we're flying at high speeds with people on board."
"That's, like, part of the responsibility of building flying machines."
Hays pushed the other way — "Fortune favors the bold, though. Come on. You gotta take some risks." — and Coogan sided with the guest
Thalheimer's bottom line is that the hard part of electric flight is not the propulsion but the certification and the training around it, and that Regent's whole strategy is to take a machine that flies and sell it as a boat that anybody already qualified to drive one can operate.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Regent (Thalheimer's company: all-electric seagliders built in a quarter-million-square-foot Rhode Island factory, in two sizes — the large Viceroy and the small Squire)
Anduril (Named as part of the maritime-defense cluster forming around Narragansett Bay — "Anduril moved into town")
Archer (Its chief executive, Adam Goldstein, was standing beside him at the Middle East air show when a competition drone dropped out of the sky)
Temu (Where, in Coogan's story, two men bought a passenger drone they then flew by remote control and crashed)
Strategic Development Fund, Abu Dhabi (The relationship behind Regent's Gulf strategy and the joint venture set up to scale manufacturing there)
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