Pentagon Takes Notice as Pyka Lands $40M to Scale Electric Autonomous Planes

What began as a small effort to modernize crop-dusting has now drawn the attention of some powerful new partners. Pyka, a startup founded in 2019, aimed to tackle an often overlooked but vital industry—agriculture. Using their electric-powered, autonomous Pelican planes, Pyka sought to bring a safer, more efficient method for spraying crops across large areas, replacing the outdated and dangerous process that relies on human pilots flying close to the ground.

But as the company gained traction in the agriculture sector, investors began to take notice. With the promise of Pyka’s technology extending far beyond the farm, the company recently raised $40 million in a Series B round, led by Obvious Ventures and supported by Piva Capital, Prelude Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings, and Y Combinator. This funding was meant to help Pyka scale up its production capabilities and expand its fleet, but it also marked the beginning of a new chapter—one that involved an unexpected suitor: the Pentagon.

Pyka’s lightweight planes, initially designed to handle the repetitive task of crop-dusting, soon evolved into a potential solution for a far larger market—cargo transport. With autonomous capabilities and a payload capacity of 400 pounds, the company saw an opportunity to use its planes for short-distance logistics, particularly inter-island commerce, which often relies on slow boats or aging aircraft. The Pelican's speed and efficiency made it a natural fit for moving goods between remote areas.

However, the versatility of Pyka's technology attracted the attention of the Department of Defense, which saw potential in these autonomous planes for military logistics. CEO and co-founder Michael Norcia admitted this was not something they had anticipated. “When we started, we were purely focused on commercial use,” Norcia explained. “But the defense interest caught us by surprise. The military's mindset around autonomous systems has shifted, especially with recent conflicts like the war in Ukraine emphasizing the need for faster, more flexible logistics solutions.”