Poseidon Aerospace raises $60M ahead of first pilotless cargo test flight

Poseidon Aerospace has closed a $60 million Series A ahead of the first test flight of Egret, its uncrewed cargo plane, expected by the end of this year. The round was led by TQ Ventures, with new investments from Hanwha Asset Management, G Squared, and JAWS, plus existing backers Starship Ventures, Draper Associates, and Drover Ventures.

The new financing follows $11 million in seed funding secured last year. For readers tracking aviation startups, the key signal is that Poseidon is pitching autonomy as a cost and utilization play, not just a technology showcase.

Poseidon’s thesis is straightforward: remove pilots from cargo aircraft and rethink the aircraft around that constraint. The company is embracing autonomy and remote piloting while avoiding vertical takeoff and landing systems, hydrogen, and electric powertrains.

Egret and its seaplane variant, Heron, are fixed-wing aircraft powered by combustion engines. CEO David Zagaynov argues that eliminating the cockpit and life support systems can reduce structural weight, improve payload-to-empty-weight ratios, and support a lower-cost operating model.

Poseidon is initially targeting defense and regional commercial cargo. On the defense side, it is designing aircraft for remote communities, underserved routes, and locations with degraded or nonexistent infrastructure.

Commercially, Poseidon does not plan to sell its aircraft; Zagaynov wants the company to operate its own regional air cargo business. The goal is to compete with existing air cargo carriers for business from UPS, FedEx, and others by offering a potentially more flexible, lower-cost network.

Poseidon has expanded into an old Navy hangar in Alameda, California, and is preparing to hire as it works toward Egret’s first flight. The company previously developed and flew a quarter-scale vehicle called Seagull, but needed more space for its full-size aircraft with a 50-foot wingspan.

Regulation remains a major watch point. Although a recent Federal Aviation Administration pilot program is focused on electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, Zagaynov said Poseidon still benefits from a more open testing environment and sees a path to commercialization that did not exist five to 10 years ago.