Silicon Valley is understood for embracing the ethos of “transfer quick and break issues.” Poseidon Aerospace’s co-founder and CEO David Zagaynov simply desires to maneuver issues quick.
When he was engaged on logistics at Amazon in 2024, Zagaynov and his Poseidon co-founder Parker Tenney (who was at Lockheed Martin) discovered themselves repeatedly speaking concerning the rise of superior air mobility startups. They realized, Zagaynov advised TechCrunch in an unique interview, that the main target was nearly at all times on introducing flashy new applied sciences.
“Philosophically, we wish to construct the way forward for aerologistics,” Zagaynov stated. “To not be a hater, however I believe lots of people who begin aerospace corporations get nerd-sniped by very cool expertise after which wish to implement it into market. For us, we wish to enhance cargo.”
Poseidon Aerospace secured $11 million in seed funding final yr in pursuit of this objective. Now, the corporate has closed a $60 million Collection A forward of the primary take a look at flight of its uncrewed cargo aircraft, Egret, anticipated by the tip of this yr.
The funding spherical was led by early-stage VC agency, TQ Ventures, and noticed new investments from Hanwha Asset Administration, G Squared and JAWS. Current backers Starship Ventures, Draper Associates and Drover Ventures additionally invested.
True to Zagaynov’s allergy to getting “nerd-sniped” by promising-yet-currently-unworkable applied sciences, Poseidon is being constructed with a ruthless strategy to reducing the price of transporting cargo.
The startup is embracing autonomy and distant piloting, but it surely’s not bothering with the vertical takeoff and touchdown tech that’s de rigueur amongst so many aviation startups. There’s additionally no hydrogen or electrical powertrain to be discovered. Egret and its seaplane variant, Heron, are fixed-wing plane powered by common outdated combustion engines.
“It’s actually laborious to beat the vitality density of fuels of something carbon-related,” Zagaynov stated. “Can I make a very good field with wings to maneuver issues for tremendous low-cost? If you happen to do this, then abstracting the tech away, we’re left with unmanned cargo like planes which might be capable of function on a a lot decrease value curve, and have a lot greater utilization.”
Zagaynov stated Poseidon is initially focusing on the protection and regional business cargo areas.
On the protection facet, the startup is designing its plane so it could possibly service “distant communities and underserved routes the place air cargo service is constrained.” Poseidon desires its planes to deal with areas with “degraded or nonexistent infrastructure,” as a result of such capabilities make a nation’s logistics capabilities “tougher to disrupt and extra resilient to adversary denial.” The startup has noted up to now that China is already testing its personal cargo drones.
On the business facet, Zagaynov stated Poseidon isn’t going to promote its planes. He desires Poseidon to function its personal regional air cargo enterprise with a purpose to compete with current air cargo carriers for enterprise from UPS, FedEx, and others.
Not requiring pilots for the plane additionally paves the way in which for Poseidon to function at decrease value. “What’s very good is, logistics is a commodity, and so when you promote a commodity and do it higher, sooner, cheaper, the demand is all yours,” he stated.
The autonomy additionally makes Poseidon a probably extra versatile and dynamic provider, in keeping with Zagaynov. If demand spikes in a selected area, it will likely be simpler for Poseidon to vary its routes because it isn’t planning round a selected pool of pilots who stay in a single space or one other. He additionally imagines a world the place Poseidon’s plane can break the standard hub-and-spoke mannequin of regional air cargo, and do extra point-to-point journeys, much like how low-cost business airways like Breeze or Avelo function.
“When you have got a pilot, they’ve a most quantity of hours that they will fly. So in the event that they fly a five-hour leg in a single course, they’re not capable of come again dwelling. And except you have got a reduction [pilot], then you must pay for them to spend the evening someplace,” he stated. “The aircraft is sort of a very costly asset that spends most of its life simply ready.”
One other advantage of not having a pilot, in keeping with Zagaynov, is that it frees up the startup to vary elementary elements of the design of its plane.
“Eliminate the cockpit; eliminate the life assist programs,” he stated. “You get to drag a ton of structured weight out, which then signifies that your ratio of payload to empty weight modifications. Your engines will be a lot lighter, way more environment friendly, and so it’s like a virtuous cycle within the optimistic course of simply lighter, cheaper.”
To do all this, Poseidon has expanded into an outdated Navy hanger in Alameda, California, and is about to go on a hiring spree because it pushes in the direction of that first flight. The startup final yr developed and flew a quarter-scale model of its automobile, which it referred to as Seagull, but it surely wanted more room to construct its full-size, 50-foot-wingspan plane.
Poseidon’s additionally benefiting from a regulatory setting that’s open to new concepts. The Federal Aviation Administration just lately began a pilot program that makes it simpler for startups engaged on electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown plane to check their tech. Poseidon isn’t working in that area, however Zagaynov stated his startup nonetheless advantages from this system, and that there’s a “path to commercialization that I don’t assume existed like 5 to 10 years in the past.”
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