Swedes are renowned for their modesty; the concepts of Jantelagen - an unwritten rule forbidding boasting - and lagom - loosely translated as 'just the right amount' or 'appropriateness' - are woven into the national psyche.So when Anders Forslund, chief executive of Gothenburg-headquartered Heart Aerospace, sums up his company's recent announcements simply as "exciting times", you cannot help but think that the tendency for understatement is at work.In case you missed them, the start-up on 13 July revealed two key developments: first, that US carriers United Airlines and Mesa Airlines had placed conditional orders for a total of 200 of the company's in-development ES-19 all-electric aircraft, and had taken options on a further 100; second, those operators and other investors, including the Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, had put $35 million into the company as part of its Series A fundraising.For a company whose aircraft has yet to fly to attract the interest of one of the USA's big three and its regional partner is a remarkable feat, but arguably these are remarkable times.
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