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Natilus raises $28M to build and fly KONA blended‑wing unmanned cargo prototype; orderbook tops ~570 ($24B)

Natilus closed a $28 million Series A to accelerate development and flight testing of its full‑scale KONA blended‑wing unmanned cargo prototype. The company says its orderbook tops 570 freighters worth about $24 billion with commitments from Flexport, Nolinor and Ameriflight, and it is advancing its HORIZON passenger BWB toward certification.

Discovered 2026-02-10T04:14:51.605293-08:00 | 2026-02-10T04:14:51.605293-08:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • Natilus’s $28M Series A funds a move from scale models to a full‑scale KONA flight prototype and underpins a claimed orderbook of ~570 freighters (~$24B), signalling serious commercial interest in blended‑wing cargo concepts; compare recent startup funding rounds for cargo UAS (see Grid Aero) [source:ad7085fe-8f80-41db-9958-7f1e5de94361].

  • Large pre‑sales give revenue visibility but do not eliminate technical, certification and production risk; prior blended‑wing efforts have stalled or shut down, notably Outbound Aerospace’s wind‑down, underscoring execution risk for newcomers [source:15dd6da9-27b8-4303-8733-5aac4423f864].

  • Natilus is pursuing dual paths — unmanned KONA cargo and the HORIZON passenger BWB — and its earlier conditional airline deal points to potential market routes and commercial strategy for BWB aircraft [source:3ed71d5c-8b38-41cd-adff-d1c921e9f496].

Reported By

Defense Daily Aviation Week interestingengineering.com pilootenvliegtuig.nl eandt.theiet.org AeroTime
Sources Tracked
23
First Seen
2026-02-10T04:14:51.605293-08:00
Latest Update
2026-02-13T15:33:28.865329-08:00
Coverage
Aviation

Sources

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