← Company intelligence

Robot maker · registered

Elroy Air

Corporate marketdeliverylogisticsCurated record

Chaparral is a hybrid-electric turbogenerator VTOL cargo aircraft with tandem-wing design and pusher propeller; six vertical-lift rotors under twin booms enable no-infrastructure takeoff and landing from unprepared surfaces; fully autonomous navigation with detect-and-avoid sensor suite for point-to-point cargo delivery; no ground charging infrastructure required; U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force programs for 6+ years support ongoing autonomy stack development.

HeadquartersSouth San Francisco, US
Founded2016
Corporate funding$137M
Team11-50
Deployments5
Open roles6
01

Company overview

Identity and operating footprint

Company typeRobot maker
Market segmentCorporate
StagePending public listing (SPAC merger with Columbus Circle Capital Corp II / Inflection Point)
FoundersDavid Merrill (CEO), Clint Cope (VP Engineering)
Regions servedNorth America, Asia Pacific
Countries deployedUS, JP
Service footprintSouth San Francisco HQ; Byron CA flight-test site; Kratos Defence as exclusive US manufacturer; active USAF/Army/Marine Corps programs; FedEx middle-mile test (US); Bristow 100-unit LOI; Japan GSDF inter-island logistics tests 2025
Last reviewed2026-07-05
MX

Robot models

Specifications remain vendor-claimed

Machinedelivery

Chaparral

  • MTOW 865 kg; payload 136–227 kg (300–500 lb); range ~480 km (300 miles); max speed 125 knots; max endurance 8.5 hours; max altitude 18,000 ft; wingspan 8 m; length 5.8 m; hybrid-electric turbogenerator powertrain; 250 kW max propulsion power

    Vendor-stated airframe and performance specifications for the Chaparral autonomous hybrid-electric VTOL cargo aircraft

    Claim source
DP

Deployment log

Announced and cited only

AnnouncedCustomerSiteCountryCountEvidence
2026-01-01Barq Group (Abu Dhabi, UAE) – $200M JV for MENA manufacturing and deploymentcargo drone manufacturing / operationsAENot disclosedAnnouncement
2024-05-14U.S. Marine CorpsdefenseUSNot disclosedAnnouncement
2022-07-13Bristow Group (100-unit LOI)aviationUS100Announcement
2022-03-30FedEx Express (middle-mile cargo test program)air cargo sortation / middle-mile logisticsUSNot disclosedAnnouncement
2020-12-22U.S. Air ForcedefenseUSNot disclosedAnnouncement
CA

Funding history

Publicly announced rounds

Investors on recordLemnosLockheed Martin VenturesMarlinspike CapitalShield Capital PartnersCatapult VenturesLevitate CapitalProsperity7 VenturesPrecursor VenturesHaystackDiamondStream PartnersSnowpoint VenturesMilano Investment PartnersShasta VenturesTenOneTenAmplify PartnersHomebrew
HR

Hiring signal

Public job board · 2026-07-13

Open roles6

Hiring is an operating signal, not deployment evidence. Roles are refreshed from the company’s public careers system.

TL

Company timeline

Milestones and announcements

2026-06-26Announced definitive SPAC merger with Columbus Circle Capital Corp II at $800M valuation / $1B EV with $165M+ PIPE; ticker IPXG on Nasdaq pending Q4 2026 closeBusinessWire
2025-12-10Completed first autonomous point-to-point cargo delivery: Chaparral carried 213 lb payload 2.6 miles in Byron, CA: first A-to-B autonomous flightElroy Air
2025-09-23Named Kratos Defense & Security Solutions as exclusive US manufacturing partner for Chaparral production aircraftForbes
2022-03-30FedEx Express announced agreement to test Chaparral for autonomous middle-mile cargo deliveryFedEx Newsroom
2021-08-04Closed $40M Series A led by Marlinspike Capital with Lockheed Martin Ventures and Prosperity7 Ventures; revealed Chaparral VTOL cargo aircraftTechCrunch
2017-12-22Closed $4.6M seed round led by Levitate CapitalElroy Air
SC

Source ledger

15 unique public sources