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- Elroy Air
Elroy Air Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Elroy Air was acquired by Columbus Circle Capital Corp II for $1B in June 2026.
Elroy Air acquisition price
$1B
Acquired by Columbus Circle Capital Corp II · Jun 2026
Cumulative funding Elroy Air raised
$112M
across 6 funding rounds
Key investors in Elroy Air
Lemnos VC
Levitate Capital
Precursor Ventures
Shasta Ventures
Homebrew
TenOneTen Ventures
10X Capital
E14 Fund
About Elroy Air
Elroy Air is a San Francisco-headquartered developer of autonomous VTOL cargo drones for middle-mile logistics. Its Chaparral system carries 300 pounds over 300 miles, featuring cargo pods for palletized goods and integration with warehouse robotics. Founded in 2016, the company partners with FedEx and the US Air Force for testing and holds FAA certification progress toward commercial operations in 2025.
Founded
2016
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$1B (acquired Jun 2026)
Elroy Air Acquisition
Elroy Air was acquired by Columbus Circle Capital Corp II for $1B on 25 June 2026.
Before the acquisition Elroy Air had raised $112M across 6 funding rounds.
Elroy Air, a developer of autonomous heavy-cargo drones based in Byron, California, signed a definitive business combination agreement with Columbus Circle Capital Corp II (to be renamed Inflection Point Acquisition Corp VII) to go public via a SPAC merger valued at $800 million pre-money, with an expected post-transaction enterprise value of approximately $1.0 billion. The deal includes over $165 million in committed PIPE capital, anchored by Inflection Point and existing investors, which is expected to fully fund commercial-scale production of Elroy Air's "Chaparral" aircraft alongside its manufacturing partner, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Elroy Air has 6+ years of active defense programs and a demand pipeline exceeding 1,400 aircraft, representing over $5 billion in potential estimated revenue opportunity from leading logistics and aviation companies including FedEx, Bristow Group, Barq Group, and SLI. The business combination is expected to deliver gross proceeds of at least $165 million from the PIPE, with up to $230 million additional proceeds depending on redemptions. The Boards of Directors of both Elroy Air and Columbus Circle Capital Corp II unanimously approved the transaction.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun 2026 | Strategic M&A | $1B |
Elroy Air Funding History
Elroy Air has raised a total of $112M across 6 funding rounds.
Elroy Air's first fundraising round was a $5M seed round in December 2017. The most recent completed round was a $7M Series A in November 2024.
Elroy Air funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2024 | Series A | - | $7M | Elroy Air is a developer of autonomous hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed for middle-mile logistics, particularly the Chaparral UAS, which carries 300 pounds over a range of 300 miles. The company completed additional funding in late 2024 led by Marlinspike Partners with participation from Shield Capital, Snowpoint, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Milano Investment Partners, DiamondStream Partners, and Levitate Capital, with the proceeds aimed at accelerating productization of the Chaparral aircraft. The company has achieved significant commercial traction, with a backlog of demand exceeding 1,500 units globally from customers including FedEx, Bristow, and Logistics Capability International (LCI), and completed its first autonomous point-to-point cargo delivery. In early 2026, Elroy Air announced a $200 million joint venture with UAE-based Barq Group to establish manufacturing capacity in Abu Dhabi, complementing an existing domestic U.S. production partnership with Kratos. |
| Feb 2024 | Undisclosed stage | - | $49M | Elroy Air develops the Chaparral UAS, a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) autonomous aircraft designed to carry 300 pounds over 300 miles for logistics applications including military resupply, disaster response, firefighting, and warehouse-to-warehouse parcel transport. The company, headquartered in South San Francisco with flight test operations in Byron, California, aims to enable same-day shipping globally. In February 2024, Elroy Air raised approximately $48.93M in a Series A - IV round. Investors include prominent venture firms and strategics like Lockheed Martin Ventures. A later Series A - V round on November 15, 2024, raised $6.64M led by Marlinspike Partners with participation from Shield Capital, Snowpoint Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Milano Investment Partners, DiamondStream Partners, Levitate Capital, Catapult Ventures, and others, coinciding with the appointment of Dr. Andrew Clare as CEO to accelerate Chaparral productization. Total funding across 13 rounds reaches $117.28M from 28 investors. Elroy Air has attracted strategic interest from defense and logistics sectors, with backing from firms like Catapult Ventures, Snowpoint Ventures, Shield Capital, and angels including early Uber executives. The company continues advancing autonomous logistics technology amid growing demand. |
| Aug 2021 | Series A | Lockheed Martin Ventures (lead); Marlinspike Capital (lead); Prosperity7 Ventures (lead) | $40M | Elroy Air is an aerospace and logistics company developing autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft systems. Founded in 2016 by leaders in unmanned aerial systems, product development, and software, the company is building the Chaparral, a hybrid-electric autonomous cargo drone designed for middle-mile logistics operations. The Chaparral targets a range of 300 miles with payload capacity of 300 to 500 pounds, addressing customer needs for longer routes and missions beyond what current battery technology supports. The company uses a hybrid-electric propulsion system as a key differentiator from eVTOL passenger aircraft developers like Joby Aviation. In August 2021, Elroy Air closed a $40 million Series A financing round led by Marlinspike Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, and Prosperity7 Ventures, with participation from existing investors Catapult Ventures, DiamondStream Partners, Side X Side Management, Shield Capital Partners, and Precursor Ventures. This brought the company's total funding to $48 million at the time. The capital was designated to complete the build of full-capability pre-production aircraft, advance certification programs, secure supply chain partnerships, and enter flight-test operations with the U.S. Air Force's Agility Prime program and the Navy. The participation of defense-focused investors, particularly Lockheed Martin Ventures and Marlinspike Capital, signals strong interest in the technology's military applications for autonomous aerial logistics and resupply. CEO David Merrill stated the funding would propel the company into an exciting new stage, with plans to approximately double the headcount from 30 employees over the following 9 to 12 months. The company expected to have a complete prototype in flight test operations during 2022 and aimed to complete another full-capability pre-production Chaparral by year-end 2021 for subsystem and software validation. |
| Apr 2020 | Series A | 10X Capital | $7M | - |
| Feb 2019 | Seed | Catapult Ventures (lead); Jeff Seibert; E14 Fund; Chang Corporation; Precursor Ventures; Lemnos VC; Wayne Chang; TotalEnergies Ventures; Levitate Capital; Hemisphere Ventures; Venture Investment Associates; Side X Side Management | $5M | Elroy Air raised further funding of $9.2 million around February 2019 for its Chaparral cargo drone from investors including Catapult Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Lemnos, Haystack, Shasta Ventures, Levitate Capital, 122West, and Amplify Partners. The company, founded by former 3DR employees David Merrill and Clint Cope, develops autonomous VTOL aerial cargo systems targeting 150 pounds payload over 300 miles initially. Elroy Air aimed to launch first systems in 2020 with select shippers to expand air cargo reach safely and efficiently. Catapult Ventures participated in this early round and continued as an investor in later financings. |
| Dec 2017 | Seed | Levitate Capital (lead); TenOneTen Ventures; Homebrew; Lemnos VC; Shasta Ventures; Script Capital; Vijay Pradeep; Erik Peterson | $5M | Elroy Air, a San Francisco-based cargo drone startup, raised $4.6 million in a funding round announced on December 29, 2017. Levitate Capital participated as an investor in Elroy Air starting from its first funding on December 22, 2017, along with other investors including Homebrew, Lemnos VC, Script Capital, Shasta Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Erik Peterson, and Vijay Pradeep. The company develops autonomous vertical takeoff and landing cargo drones capable of carrying significant payloads for logistics applications. This early round marked the beginning of Elroy Air's funding journey, which has since accumulated over $117 million across 13 rounds from 28 investors as of 2024. Levitate Capital continued investing in subsequent rounds, including Seed VC - II in 2019 and Series A - V in 2024. |
Who has invested in Elroy Air?
22 investors have backed Elroy Air across its funding rounds, including Lemnos VC, Levitate Capital, Precursor Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Homebrew and TenOneTen Ventures.
Lead investors include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Marlinspike Capital, Prosperity7 Ventures, Catapult Ventures and Levitate Capital.
Elroy Air Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Participant | Dec 2017 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Dec 2017 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Aug 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2019 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2019 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2019 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Aug 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2019 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Feb 2019 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Dec 2017 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Dec 2017 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Apr 2020 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2019 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 22 Elroy Air investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialElroy Air Competitors
Elroy Air competitors include listed companies like Extreme Vision and Robosense, and private ones like Nimble Robotics, TuSimple, UISEE and Dexterity.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.4B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $44M | ($6M) | $1B | 11.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $289M | ($19M) | $955M | 1.6x |
Elroy Air Public Comps
Elroy Air is no longer listed, but its public comps include Hangzhou SF Intra-City, Extreme Vision, Reysaş Lojistik, CTT Correios de Portugal, Robosense, Aeva, Logwin, NTG Nordic Transport, Heartland Express and Red Cat Holdings.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $3.4B | $54M | 0.2x | 0.2x | 11.8x | 8.4x | |||
| $44M | ($6M) | 22.8x | 11.6x | (163.7x) | - | |||
| $257M | $142M | 4.8x | - | 8.6x | - | |||
| $1.4B | $202M | - | - | - | - | |||
| $289M | ($19M) | 2.1x | 1.6x | (31.9x) | (52.9x) | |||
| $18M | ($139M) | 54.7x | 35.6x | (7.1x) | (8.7x) | |||
| $1.6B | $131M | 0.4x | 0.4x | 4.7x | 4.7x | |||
| $1.8B | $135M | 0.7x | 0.7x | 9.6x | 8.2x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Elroy Air competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Elroy Air
| When was Elroy Air founded? | Elroy Air was founded in 2016. |
| Where is Elroy Air headquartered? | Elroy Air is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Elroy Air publicly listed? | No, Elroy Air was acquired by Columbus Circle Capital Corp II in June 2026. |
| Who acquired Elroy Air? | Elroy Air was acquired by Columbus Circle Capital Corp II in June 2026. |
| How much was Elroy Air acquired for? | Elroy Air was acquired for $1B in June 2026. |
| How much funding has Elroy Air raised? | Elroy Air has raised $112M across 6 funding rounds. |
| What was Elroy Air's last funding round? | Elroy Air's last funding round was a $7M Series A in November 2024. |
| Who are Elroy Air's investors? | Elroy Air's investors include Lemnos VC, Levitate Capital, Marlinspike Capital, Jeff Seibert, E14 Fund, Chang Corporation, Prosperity7 Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Catapult Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures and 12 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Elroy Air? | Companies comparable to Elroy Air include Nimble Robotics, TuSimple, UISEE, Dexterity, Extreme Vision and Robosense. |
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