Pyka
Aircraft Manufacturing · General Aviation
10open roles
$125kmedian advertised pay
$37Mlatest round · Venture round · Apr 2022 · 4 yr ago
7backers · Y Combinator, DCVC
Overview
We are harnessing automation and electrification to make aviation safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective than ever before.
Funding and backers
Total raised
$37M
2 rounds on record
Latest round
$37M
Venture round · Apr 2022 · 4 yr ago
Team
51-200
employees, estimated range
Hiring now
14
+4 posted in 30 days
Grants
$1.2M
1 grant · CORDIS
Backers
7
Y Combinator, DCVC
The money's age
Long since its last round
54 months since the last round · and hiring
Momentum
21/100
hiring for its size, a new city
Last sign of life
1 mo ago
a posting or a news item
The story so fareach stage dated by its source: the company's releases, the press, registers, filings
Sep 25, 2025
Won a grant $1.2M · CORDIS
Feb 8, 2023
Launched American-born startup Pyka launches the world's largest autonomous electric cargo plane · Fox Business
Apr 26, 2022
Raised a round Venture round $37M · Aviation International News
Sep 27, 2021
Partnership EmbraerX and Pyka team up to accelerate the future of autonomous agriculture aeroplanes · sUAS News
Jun 2017
Went through Y Combinator
Tractionpublic signals, read monthly
Web presence
top 2%
of 133.2M domains by links, Common Crawl
Funding rounds
| Round | Date | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grant | Sep 2025 | $1.2M | — | CORDIS |
| Venture round | Apr 2022 | $37M | — | Aviation International News |
Backed byfrom the funds' portfolios and accelerator catalogs
Y Combinator 
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Jobs
Apply
$180k – $250k per year · In office · Full-Time · 6+ years exp · Alameda
Python
Google BigQuery
AI/ML
Machine Learning
DevOps
GCP
Pulumi
CI/CD
Platform Engineering
Linux
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≈ $40k – $91k per year (Estimated) · Remote (Brazil) · Contractor · Brazil
ArduPilot
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$58k – $64k per year · In office · Full-Time · High School Diploma · Alameda
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$70k – $78k per year · In office · Full-Time · Alameda
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$70k per year · In office · Internship · Alameda
SolidWorks
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$76k per year · In office · Internship · Bachelor's Degree · Alameda
C++
KiCad
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≈ $23k – $56k per year (Estimated) · Remote (Brazil) · Contractor · 1+ year exp
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Salary insights
Compensation ranges based on this company's open jobs
Median
$125k
Typical range
$64k – $250k
Open positions
9
4
Jobs
Intern
50%
Senior
25%
Staff
25%
| Level | Jobs | Median | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intern | 2 | $73k | $70k – $76k |
| Senior | 1 | $150k | $150k |
| Staff | 1 | $250k | $250k |
Highest paying role
Manager, Software Engineering - Cloud infrastructure
$250k
Normalized to USD per year
All salaries at Pyka
By role, level and city, against the market · 9 jobs with pay
Visa sponsorship
8 ▲ 300%
H-1B filings in 12 months
$168k
Median offered salary
11
Open roles in United States
2
Adverts offering sponsorship in 24 months
Who they sponsor
Other engineers
2
Financial managers
2
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers
1
In the register as Pyka Inc., Alameda, CA (+1 more)
Other sponsors in the same field
Gulfstream Aerospace 
odysaviation 
Electra 
Eclipse Aerospace
See 11 open roles Alert me
US Department of Labor · latest filing Sep 9, 2026 · Visa details by country
Growth
Hiring Momentum
48/100
Stable
Open positions
14
3 opened / 12 closed in 30 days
Median time-to-fill
70 days
faster than 17% of the market
ATS activity
Every ~5 hours
11/11/2026
Hiring Dynamics
0%
Hiring Focus
The percentage next to each role is its share of the company's job openings over the last 90 days; the arrow shows the shift versus the previous period.
Operations
26%
Field & Service
26% ▲
Industrial Engineering
16% ▼
Backend
11% ▼
HR
11% ▲
Management
5% ▲
Activity Timeline
Added Scrum to stack
Nov 2026
Added ArduPilot to stack
Oct 2026
Added Pulumi to stack
Oct 2026
Added Platform Engineering to stack
Oct 2026
Added Machine Learning to stack
Oct 2026
Added Google BigQuery to stack
Oct 2026
Added GCP to stack
Oct 2026
Added GD&T to stack
Oct 2026
Added ANSYS to stack
Oct 2026
Added FMEA to stack
Oct 2026
New location: Brazil
Oct 2026
Added Google Sheets to stack
Oct 2026
Tech stack
Technologies named in job postings at Pyka over the last 12 months, by layer, with the share of postings for each.
Technologies in use
18
Postings analysed
12
Stack modernity
71/100
Languages
C++33%
Python25%
Frameworks & libraries
ArduPilot8%
Databases
Google BigQuery8%
Cloud & platforms
Linux42%
GCP8%
Sign in to see how your skills match this stack
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Full Pyka tech stack
18 technologies · by team · pay by technology · changes · similar stacks
Connections
List
Graph
Found in company registers, site code, DNS and hiring. Each connection shows how sure we are and the evidence, with its source and date.
Shared investors
Piva CapitalVia a fund
TrirecVia a fund
Obvious VenturesVia a fund
Perot JainVia a fund
68 portfolio companies: Plus One Robotics, PICKUP, AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone and 65 more
Meta PlanetVia a fund
Click a company to open it. Dashed lines are likely connections. The second step of the network is part of the Pro plan.
Owner
Same company
Same group
Likely
News
Pyka fields interest from defense as $40M round goes to scaling up its electric autonomous planes
Though it briefly worked on a passenger plane, the company decided after raising some money in 2022 that a cargo variant of the Pelican was more practical in the short term.
Read more
Report
Skyports Drone Services and Pyka in Royal Navy heavy lift challenge
Skyports Drone Services has just taken part in phase two of the Royal Navy Uncrewed Aerial Systems Heavy Lift Challenge (UASHLC) with Pyka's Pelican Cargo drone. During the challenge, the drone operator demonstrated Pelican Cargo's heavy payload capacity
Read more
Report
Pyka's Pelican Spray: Largest Uncrewed Aircraft to Receive FAA Authorization for Commercial Flights
Pyka
Read more
Report
See inside a new pilotless cargo plane, which has a nose-loading door like the Boeing 747 and can fly up to 200 miles
So far, the company has secured over 80 orders for Pelican Cargo, and it expects the first commercial flight to take place in the second half of 2023.
Read more
Report
Pyka Secures Autonomous Crop Spray Interest In Guatemala Aviation Week
Pyka has signed a letter of intent with Guatemalan fresh fruit producer Grupo Hame.
Read more
Report
American-born startup Pyka launches the world's largest autonomous electric cargo plane
Pyka CEO Michael Norcia discusses the use case for autonomous planes and explains how his Pelican aircraft can do things pilot-driven planes cannot.
Read more
Report
California startup lands $37 million for electric autonomous airplanes
Pyka plans to expand its
Read more
Report
Pyka adapts its autonomous electric plane for cargo runs
Pyka has raised a $37 million A round to work on a new cargo-carrying variant of the autonomous electric Pelican aircraft.
Read more
Report
Pyka Raises $37 Million To Produce Autonomous Pelican Crop Sprayer
Business, Air Transport, Defense & General Aviation News
Read more
Report
EmbraerX and Pyka team up to accelerate the future of autonomous agriculture aeroplanes
EmbraerX, the disruptive innovation arm of Embraer, and Pyka, an Oakland-based startup working at the forefront of autonomous aviation, today announced a partnership to accelerate the future of autonomous aerial agriculture operations. The collaboration i
Read more
Report
Show more news
Offices
Where the company hires and what each office is for
Cities
2
Hiring now
1
Countries
1
Busiest office
Alameda
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Headquarters
Builds here
Office with open vacancies
No open vacancies right now Tap a pin for the office
San Francisco
United States
HQ
Alameda
United States
Plant / site
Have a question? Reach out to us below.
6 open roles 13 posted in 90 days 50-200 est. staff $108k Avg Salary
hires for Field & Service, Industrial Engineering, Management
950 W. Tower Avenue, Alameda, CA 94501, USA