Elroy Air

Elroy Air is a Aerospace startup based in South San Francisco, California that has raised $116M in venture capital across 6 funding rounds since 2016. The company reached Series B stage in August 2021 with a $40M round led by Marlinspike Capital. Elroy Air's investor base includes 11 institutional funds, with Marlinspike Capital leading the most recent equity round.

Elroy Air is a South San Francisco-based aerospace company developing the Chaparral, a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft engineered for fully autonomous middle-mile logistics. The Chaparral carries 500+ pounds of payload over a range of up to 450 miles by combining rotor-based vertical takeoff with wing-based cruise flight — eliminating the need for runways, ground crews, or charging infrastructure. Founded in 2016 by Clint Cope and David Merrill, the company targets defense, commercial logistics, and rapid-response cargo delivery across hard-to-reach and infrastructure-limited environments. Elroy Air has established strategic partnerships and contracts with the U.S. Air Force, NASA, FedEx, Bristow Group, Leidos, Barq Group, and Lockheed Martin. Its demand pipeline exceeds 1,400 aircraft commitments, representing more than $5 billion in potential revenue. The company was selected for the U.S. Department of Transportation's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) and has demonstrated autonomous aerial resupply for the U.S. Marine Corps alongside Leidos. In September 2025, Kratos Defense was named as Elroy Air's exclusive U.S. manufacturing partner under a five-year agreement. Elroy Air's Chaparral completed its first turbogenerator-hybrid hVTOL aircraft flight in November 2023, achieving successful forward-flight transition — a key milestone for long-range autonomous cargo operations. The aircraft is designed to support a wide range of payload configurations through a standardized cargo pod system, making it compatible with both military logistics and commercial last-mile delivery operations. Backed by over $116 million in venture and defense investment across six rounds, Elroy Air counts Lockheed Martin Ventures, Shield Capital, Marlinspike Capital, Snowpoint Ventures, DiamondStream Partners, Catapult Ventures, and Precursor Ventures among its investors. In June 2026, the company announced a business combination with Inflection Point, a SPAC vehicle, to become a publicly traded company at an $800 million pre-money valuation with over $165 million in committed PIPE capital. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2026.

Lead investors

Co-investors

• FundingElroy Air To Go Public In $1 Billion SPAC DealJune 2026