# Kyle Moore

> Kyle Moore is co-founder and Software Fellow at Pyka, the Alameda, California company building the world's largest commercially-approved autonomous electric aircraft. A self-taught programmer who started writing code at age 11 from rural Washington, Moore brought firmware and robotics expertise from Google X to help design Pyka's Pelican — a 1,320-lb autonomous electric aircraft now spraying crops across four continents and delivering cargo for the U.S. Air Force. Pyka has raised $95M in total funding and achieved back-to-back FAA authorizations for the largest uncrewed aircraft systems in U.S. commercial history.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and Software Fellow at Pyka
- **Organizations:** Pyka, Google, Google X, Stanford University, UCSF, iDigital LLC, WebAha!, Metric Tensor Engineering
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Pyka, which produced the largest commercially-approved uncrewed aircraft system in U.S. history — twice over (Pelican Spray and Pelican 2), Developed firmware and avionics for autonomous aircraft operating commercially across four continents, Built motor control and LIDAR-based obstacle detection systems for Pyka's Pelican aircraft series

## Career timeline

- **~2000** — Began coding at age 11 as a remote developer from rural Washington state
- **2010** — Enrolled at Stanford University to study Computer Science
- **2010-2014** — Served as CS 106 Section Leader and Resident Computer Consultant at Stanford University
- **2013-2014** — Software development roles at iDigital LLC, WebAha!, and Metric Tensor Engineering
- **2014** — Graduated from Stanford University with BS in Computer Science; focus on low-level hardware/software interaction and computer security
- **2014-2017** — Software Engineer at Google, working on motion planning and simulation at Google X Robotics
- **February 2017** — Co-founded Pyka alongside Michael Norcia, Chuma Ogunwole, and Nathan White
- **Summer 2017** — Pyka accepted into Y Combinator (S17 batch); team built 'Big Bird,' a 400-lb autonomous aircraft prototype
- **2018-2019** — Developed the Egret, a 200-lb autonomous crop duster; achieved first-ever human-scale autonomous electric aircraft certified for commercial work in New Zealand
- **2019** — Pyka raised $11M seed round led by Prime Movers Lab, with Y Combinator, Greycroft, Data Collective, and Bold Capital Partners
- **2020-2021** — Pelican entered production and was delivered to customers in Costa Rica for banana crop spraying
- **2023** — Pyka secured FAA authorization for U.S. commercial operations of Pelican Spray — the largest autonomous aircraft to ever receive U.S. commercial authorization
- **September 2024** — Pyka raised $40M Series B led by Obvious Ventures, bringing total funding to $95M
- **February 2025** — Pyka unveiled Pelican 2, the world's largest autonomous crop protection aircraft; secured FAA authorization
- **2025** — Pyka delivered first of three Pelican Cargo aircraft to AFWERX/U.S. Air Force; unveiled DropShip long-range autonomous UAS platform

## Achievements

- Co-founded Pyka, which produced the largest commercially-approved uncrewed aircraft system in U.S. history — twice over (Pelican Spray and Pelican 2)
- Developed firmware and avionics for autonomous aircraft operating commercially across four continents
- Built motor control and LIDAR-based obstacle detection systems for Pyka's Pelican aircraft series
- Helped Pyka achieve FAA authorization for the first large-scale autonomous electric aircraft in U.S. commercial operation (2023)
- Led software development at Pyka from garage prototype to $10.4M annual revenue and 120+ employees
- Delivered autonomous electric cargo aircraft to the U.S. Air Force via AFWERX Agility Prime program
- Contributed to Pyka's $95M total funding across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Pyka unveiled DropShip, a long-range autonomous UAS platform, and secured a U.S. Air Force contract through AFWERX Agility Prime
- **2025-02** — Pyka unveiled Pelican 2, the world's largest autonomous crop protection aircraft, with 300-liter payload capacity and FAA authorization
- **2024-09** — Pyka raised $40M Series B led by Obvious Ventures; total funding reached $95M
- **2024-01** — Pyka secured major customers including Heinen Brothers and SLC Agrícola; expanded U.S. commercial operations

## Links

- Website: https://flypyka.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-moore-1485536a
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/flypyka

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kyle-moore
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-25