Radical
YC W23Seattle, US · Founded 2022 · 6 employees · 8 known investors
Radical Aero builds StratoSats, autonomous solar-powered aircraft that operate at 65,000 feet for extended periods to deliver persistent high-performance infrastructure. The company develops stratospheric platforms for communication and data services.
Also known as Radical Inc.
Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechDefense TechHardwareSpace TechDronesSatellitesAerospaceUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W23)
Radical was founded in 2022 by James Thomas and Cyriel Notteboom.
JT
James ThomasinCo-Founder & CEOHe previously spent six years at Amazon Prime Air working on aerodynamics and aircraft design for delivery drones.
CN
Cyriel NotteboominCo-Founder & CTOHe previously spent six years at Amazon Prime Air working on mechanical design and structural analysis for delivery drones.
Investors · 8
Inflection.xyzBoston · $500K – $2M
Scout VenturesAustin · $2M – $5M
Scout VenturesAustin · $2M – $5M
Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K
Bessemer Venture PartnersreportedRedwood City · $5M – $100M
BoxGroupreportedNew York · $1M
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ConvictionreportedSan Francisco · $1M – $25M
Radical VenturesreportedToronto · $1M – $25M
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements- Undisclosed amountSeedApr 2024Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Competitors · 6
by search overlapAvinc8 shared keywordsAV builds integrated defense systems for allied military operators, including unmanned aircraft, loitering munitions, counter-UAS systems, ISR, directed energy, and autonomy software across air, land, sea, and space domains. The company reports more than 50,000 deployments across over 55 countries.
Radia7 shared keywordsRadia is developing the WindRunner, an aircraft designed to carry oversized cargo—with roughly 10x the volume of a 777 and the ability to land on unpaved runways—for energy, defense, and other large cargo applications.
Radian Aerospace5 shared keywordsRadian Aerospace is developing fully reusable spaceflight vehicles, including Radian One, a single-stage-to-orbit mission platform for routine access to Low Earth Orbit, and R3V, a reusable reentry capsule for hypersonic testing and rocket cargo. The company builds launcher-agnostic vehicles configurable for cargo, experiments, or custom payloads in the space industry.
PteroDynamics5 shared keywordsPteroDynamics designs autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft built around its patented Transwing folding-wing system, which combines fixed-wing speed and range with VTOL capability for delivering cargo and ISR payloads to remote locations without runways. It serves defense customers such as the U.S. Navy and Air Force as well as commercial operators in maritime logistics, oil and gas, mining, and infrastructure inspection.
WaveAerospace5 shared keywordsWaveAerospace designs and builds unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) engineered for all-weather and high-wind operation, including multi-copter and VTOL platforms. Its aircraft serve law enforcement, emergency management, and defense missions such as ISR, search and rescue, and contested logistics.
Grid Aero5 shared keywordsGrid develops uncrewed, long-range cargo aircraft ("Lifter") that carry heavy payloads over thousands of miles, operated as a distributed, autonomous mesh network managed by small ground teams. The aircraft use an autonomy stack combining classical controls and AI for logistics in strategic and contested environments.
Companies competing with Radical for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
In the news
Prime Intellect Raises $130M Series Athesaasnews.com · Jul 2026Frequently asked questions
- What does Radical do?
- Radical Aero builds StratoSats, autonomous solar-powered aircraft that operate at 65,000 feet for extended periods to deliver persistent high-performance infrastructure. The company develops stratospheric platforms for communication and data services.
- Who founded Radical?
- Radical was founded by James Thomas, Cyriel Notteboom in 2022.
- Who are Radical's investors?
- Radical's investors include Inflection.xyz, Scout Ventures, Scout Ventures, Y Combinator, Bessemer Venture Partners, BoxGroup, Conviction, Radical Ventures.
- Where is Radical headquartered?
- Radical is headquartered in Seattle, US.