UK startup turns two-seat eVTOL into 400-mile cargo drone

British aircraft maker Skyfly Technologies has raised $10 million to turn its two-seat electric vertical takeoff aircraft into Longbow, a hybrid-electric cargo drone designed to carry 200 kg (440 pounds) more than 640 km (400 miles) and take off from ships, fields or forward bases without a runway. The seed round, announced on Oct. 20, 2026, was led by HICO Investment Group, a growth equity investor focused on maritime and logistics companies, with participation from Archangel, a European venture fund that invests only in defense-first startups. Skyfly said the money will speed up development and demonstration of the Longbow and of the hybrid propulsion system that gives it its range. Skyfly is also enrolled on the UK Ministry of Defence’s Uncrewed Air Systems Heavy Lift Capability framework, the program the Royal Navy uses to develop autonomous drones that can carry heavy loads to and between ships, and the company said further defense announcements will follow. The Longbow takes off vertically and then cruises on its wings at about 160 km/h (100 mph) with its payload carried inside the airframe. It is an uncrewed version of the Axe, Skyfly’s two-seat vertically capable aircraft, which the company says has flown more than 100 piloted test flights, including what it describes as Europe’s first airfield-to-airfield eVTOL flight, and holds experimental permits in the UK and the United States. The design uses eight fixed-angle electric motors and a winged canard layout, so it has no tilting rotors or rotating wings that could fail in the field. The wings are quick-release, the aircraft can be broken down for transport in a shipping container in about 10 minutes, and it can be flown with a pilot, remotely or autonomously. Range comes from a compact turbine generator that burns Jet A-1, JP-8 or diesel to recharge the batteries in flight, meaning the drone can run on fuel already in military supply chains. The generator can also be used as an off-grid power source at remote bases. Skyfly is pitching the Longbow for cargo resupply, surveillance, electronic warfare and signals intelligence payloads, communications relay, medical evacuation and ship-to-shore logistics, noting that many naval vessels have a helicopter deck but few can operate fixed-wing aircraft. “Nobody in the current uncrewed market offers this combination of payload, range and vertical take-off at anything like this cost, and the hybrid system means it can run on the fuel already in the supply chain,” said Michael Thompson, CEO of Skyfly. The Royal Navy has been testing heavy-lift drones for several years, and in 2023 a drone built by W Autonomous Systems became the first uncrewed fixed-wing aircraft to fly to and from the carrier HMS Prince of Wales under the same heavy-lift effort. The UK’s Defence Investment Plan commits more than £5 billion over four years to drones and autonomous systems across the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. HICO’s portfolio includes Kraken Technology Group, the British uncrewed surface vessel maker that raised $175 million at a $1 billion valuation in July 2026. Archangel, a €50 million fund operating between London and Tallinn, says it brings a network of front-line military users across the UK, Estonia and wider Europe. “Longbow addresses a clear requirement for unmanned systems that can move meaningful payloads over significant distances without relying on a runway,” said Nicholas Nelson, general partner at Archangel Ventures. The same funding will also complete U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification of the civilian Axe under updated Light Sport Aircraft rules that took effect in July 2026 and admit electric, multi-motor and vertical takeoff aircraft for the first time. Skyfly says it has orders from 61 private customers worldwide, with first deliveries planned for 2027, and that both the Axe and Longbow will be built at its 930 m² (10,000 sq ft) factory in the UK.