# Istari Digital

> Istari Digital is a Cambridge, Massachusetts software company building a digital engineering platform that connects fragmented engineering data - models, simulations, requirements and test artifacts - across teams, suppliers and classified environments. Founded in 2022 by former Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper, the company aims to let regulated industries like aerospace and defense validate, secure and certify complex systems in minutes instead of months. Its flagship effort, Flyer One, is working with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to make a modified X-56A the world's first digitally certified aircraft.

- **Founded:** 2022
- **Headquarters:** Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founders:** Will Roper (Founder & CEO), Chris Benson (Co-Founder & CTO)
- **Team size:** ~70 employees
- **Products:** Istari Digital Platform, Digital certification & validation, Secure collaboration, Flyer One program
- **Notable:** Emerged from stealth in February 2023 with a $13M seed round backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt., Secured nine government and commercial contracts within nine months and moved new partners to a waitlist., Awarded a $19M U.S. Air Force contract to develop the world's first digitally certified airplane (Flyer One).

## Products & services

- **Istari Digital Platform** — A digital engineering infrastructure platform that connects models, simulations, requirements and test data across tools, teams, suppliers and classified environments into a continuous, auditable digital thread.
- **Digital certification & validation** — Automated verification, validation and uncertainty quantification (VVUQ) pipelines that run performance checks against requirements in real time, letting teams determine security, validation and compliance status in minutes rather than months.
- **Secure collaboration** — Workflows that let organizations share and run sensitive engineering models across boundaries - including government and classified settings - while retaining control of the underlying data.
- **Flyer One program** — A flagship effort with AFRL and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to digitally certify a modified X-56A, building automated flight validation tools and a virtual flight envelope for airworthiness.

## Achievements

- Emerged from stealth in February 2023 with a $13M seed round backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
- Secured nine government and commercial contracts within nine months and moved new partners to a waitlist.
- Awarded a $19M U.S. Air Force contract to develop the world's first digitally certified airplane (Flyer One).
- Announced a partnership with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in August 2024 to digitally certify a modified X-56A.
- Expanded its AFRL partnership in September 2025 to advance digitally-certified aircraft development.
- Awarded $8.6M by the Department of the Air Force to establish 'Industry One' for the Defense Industrial Base.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Department of the Air Force awarded Istari Digital $8.6M to establish 'Industry One,' aimed at breaking down digital engineering barriers across the Defense Industrial Base.
- **2025-09** — Istari Digital and AFRL expanded their partnership to advance digitally-certified aircraft development, deepening flight and ground test data evaluation.
- **2024-08** — Istari unveiled its X-plane effort and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works partnership aiming to make a modified X-56A the world's first digitally certified aircraft.
- **2023-10** — U.S. Air Force awarded Istari a $19M contract to pioneer the Flyer One digitally certified airplane program.
- **2023-02** — Istari emerged from stealth with a $13M seed round led by Eric Schmidt.

## Links

- Website: https://istaridigital.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/istaridigital
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/istari_digital
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IstariDigital

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/istari-digital
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-04