Skyways

Skyways builds autonomous air-transport systems. The Austin company is a Y Combinator S17 startup developing unmanned aircraft for cargo and air-logistics operations.

Facts

Segment: Aerial Robotics And Drones
Country: United States
Founded: 2017
Website: https://skyways.com

Funding

2025-06-26 - Debt facility - $5M - Skyways secures $5M debt facility for cargo-drone production - Skyways secured a $5 million debt facility from Leonid Capital Partners to accelerate V3 cargo-drone production. - source: skyways.com

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Investors

Leonid Capital Partners - Lead - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-06-26

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1 commercial event; 1 contract award; latest event 2025-06-09

2025-06-09 - Contract award - Skyways wins $37M USAF award for V3 cargo drones - source: skyways.com

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Market context

Comparable profiles and adjacent companies connected by shared workflow, capability, or stack position.

Tornyol - comparable profile - peer: Autonomous Drone Companies
Voltair - comparable profile - peer: Autonomous Drone Companies
GrazeMate - comparable profile - peer: Autonomous Drone Companies

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Timeline

2025-08-21 - Deployment - Skyways completes cargo drone flights for U.S. military - Skyways was the only UAS provider at the Project ULTRA event. The work tested long-range autonomous unmanned cargo aircraft logistics for defense operations. - source: skyways.com
2025-06-09 - Contract Award - Skyways wins $37M USAF award for V3 cargo drones - The award supported transition of the V3 autonomous cargo aircraft from prototype to production. Skyways described the V3 as a long-range autonomous unmanned cargo aircraft system. - source: skyways.com

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Team

Charles Acknin - Founder

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Relations

U.S. Air Force AFWERX - Contracting Authority - AFWERX awarded Skyways $37 million to transition V3 cargo drones toward full-rate production.

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