GeekWire · Oct 2025
Reports the first flight of Radical's full-size Evenstar prototype, a 120-foot-wingspan solar-powered drone, and notes plans for higher-altitude testing in 2026.
Building persistent, high-performance infrastructure in the sky
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
Radical is a Seattle-based aerospace startup building StratoSats—autonomous solar-powered aircraft that deliver persistent infrastructure, connectivity, and observation services from the stratosphere.
Primary product
Evenstar / StratoSats autonomous solar-powered stratospheric aircraft
Founded
2022
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington, United States
Team size
1-10 employees
Industry
Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing
Sub-industry
High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) / stratospheric autonomous aircraft
Offices
Seattle, WA, United States (HQ)
Ballard, Seattle, WA, United States (manufacturing operation)
Business model
B2B aerospace hardware development
B2B connectivity, observation, and sensing services
Government and commercial mission support
Funding
Stage
Seed
Total raised
$5.1M
Latest round
Seed · Apr 2024
Latest amount
$4.5M
People & investors
Work & culture
First-principles, design-build-fly, rapid-iteration culture with a lean team focused on physics, real-world constraints, and execution.
Compensation
No public salary bands or compensation ranges were found in the public materials reviewed.
Product & market
Pricing
Not publicly disclosed; appears to be B2B mission/service and aerospace-platform driven.
Differentiators
- —Months-long continuous flight without landing
- —Solar-powered and zero-emissions operation
- —Real-time repositioning without orbital constraints
- —Can return to land for payload swaps
- —Target altitude around 65,000 ft
- —Cost-effective alternative to orbital infrastructure
- —Full-scale prototype Evenstar has flown
Technology
Python
C
autonomous flight systems
solar cells
battery-electric propulsion
propeller aircraft
prototyping
Customers
Telecommunications/connectivity operators
Government and defense users
Environmental monitoring and sensing customers
Commercial imagery and mapping customers
Competitors
Drone America
Aerodron
Seaflight Technologies
Skypersonic
Avisight
Solar Flight
Skydweller
Saildrone
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
$1M-$10M
Estimated monthly visits
2K
Latest news
Radical blog · Oct 2025
Company post announcing Evenstar's maiden flight and describing its 120-foot wingspan, 15-kilogram payload capacity, and 2026 high-altitude testing plans.
Popular Science · Oct 2025
Profiles the prototype flight and explains possible use cases such as remote connectivity, imagery, and surveillance.
Defense Daily · Oct 2025
Covers the first flight test of Evenstar and the company’s plan to begin stratospheric testing in 2026.
GeekWire · Apr 2024
Reports Radical's $4.5 million seed round led by Scout Ventures with additional backing from Inflection and Y Combinator.
Jobs and careers at Radical
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