Zuri.com

Zuri.com is a Czech aircraft company based in Prague that designs, builds and flies its own hybrid-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft. Founded in 2017 by Michal Illich, the company has pursued a single thesis since its first crayon sketch: combine hybrid power, VTOL capability and a fixed wing that carries the payload, all on a proprietary technology stack. Its aircraft are intended to move a hundred-plus kilograms over hundreds of kilometers without a runway at either end, filling a gap between small multirotor drones and costly helicopters or slow boats. The company's product direction is the long-range uncrewed cargo VTOL, marketed around the tagline "Start Vertically. Go Beyond." Its current technology demonstrator, TD 2.0, is a full-scale hybrid aircraft in systems integration and ground test. Zuri publishes design figures of 679 km range, 165 kg useful load, 220 km/h speed and a sensing role of roughly 1,908 km. The hybrid-electric powertrain is designed to refuel in minutes and to be operated by a single person on the ground, using pads and decks rather than airfields. Zuri targets two main markets. In the civil segment its primary mission is maritime and offshore resupply — ships, platforms, wind farms and islands — where it aims to replace costly helicopter lifts, slow boats or five-kilogram drones with over a hundred kilograms of payload and same-day return. Typical civil missions include island supply, medical logistics and coast guard or search-and-rescue support. In defense and security, the primary mission is austere and remote resupply, moving rations, fuel, ammunition and spares hundreds of kilometers to crews and depots held back from contested ground. The company emphasizes that its aircraft are ITAR-free, NATO-interoperable and built on a sovereign European supply base, with typical missions including ISR and relay, contested logistics and medevac support. Zuri's credibility rests on an unusually public flight-test record. The company states that more than fifteen aircraft have been designed, built and flown, with hundreds of test flights conducted in Prague. Its lineage runs from a two-meter model and a five-meter concept in 2018 — the latter being its first aircraft registered with the national aviation authority — through a rolling subscale fleet, the full-scale TD 1.0 that achieved full-scale hover in 2021 and an altitude and endurance record flight in 2023, to the current TD 2.0 and a V1NG subscale model flown in 2025. Zuri frames this as "flown, not rendered," arguing that nothing was attempted at full scale before a smaller aircraft could prove it first. Zuri remains a privately held company. Early backing came from Czech investors: Pale Fire Capital invested €600k in October 2018 as a convertible note, and Kiwi.com, the Czech airline-ticket company, invested €200k in March 2019. With that funding the team grew from six people in autumn 2018 to fifteen by summer 2019, hiring aerospace engineers, aerodynamicists and software developers. The company continues to operate from Prague and positions itself as an aircraft company rather than a drone maker, with a long-term ambition of moving from demonstrators to deliveries.

Zuri.com was founded in September 2017 by Michal Illich, who drew the first shape of the aircraft with crayons borrowed from his children. An aerospace designer later redrew the concept into a workable form. From the outset the company pursued a single thesis: hybrid power, VTOL capability and a wing that carries the weight, built on its own technology stack. The first flight milestone came in May 2018, when the team built and flew a two-meter-wingspan model to test basic flight characteristics. Common hobby components kept costs low, which the company credits with making rapid experimentation possible. In August 2018, to test whether the concept would scale, Zuri hired an airplane designer to build a five-meter demonstrator. It flew first as a conventional airplane and then in hover once the VTOL system was installed, becoming the company's first uncrewed aircraft registered with the national aviation authority. Funding followed quickly. In October 2018, Pale Fire Capital invested €600k as a convertible note after Zuri approached Jan Barta for fundraising advice. In January 2019, with funding secured, Zuri began hiring aerospace engineers, aerodynamicists and software developers, growing from six people in autumn 2018 to fifteen by summer 2019. In March 2019, Kiwi.com, the Czech airline-ticket company, invested €200k and brought its knowledge of the air travel industry. Also in 2019, Zuri began bench-testing electric motors, controllers and batteries for a one-seater demonstrator, and ran wind tunnel tests to validate its aerodynamic calculations. A rolling series of subscale transition aircraft began flying from 2019, with new configurations tested at small scale before full-scale attempts. In 2020, work began on TD 1.0, the company's first full-scale aircraft. TD 1.0 achieved full-scale hover in 2021 and, in 2023, completed an altitude and endurance record flight. By this point Zuri had designed, built and flown more than fifteen aircraft and conducted hundreds of test flights from its base in Prague. The current phase centers on TD 2.0, a full-scale hybrid demonstrator in systems integration and ground test. TD 2.0 is intended to prove transition and cruise — the stages of flight that TD 1.0 did not fly at full scale, though they have been proven at subscale across multiple aircraft. In 2025, a V1NG subscale model entered flight testing. Zuri presents its entire history as a continuous, dated record — twenty-five entries from the first 2017 drawing — under the banner "flown, not rendered," and frames its lineage as one family of aircraft progressing from demonstrators toward deliveries.

• Michal Illich founds the company and draws the first aircraft shape with crayons borrowed from his children.

• A two-meter-wingspan model is built and flown to test basic flight characteristics.

• A five-meter demonstrator flies first as an airplane, then in hover; it becomes the company's first aircraft registered with the national aviation authority.

• Pale Fire Capital invests €600k as a convertible note.

• Zuri begins hiring aerospace engineers, aerodynamicists and software developers, growing from six to fifteen people by summer 2019.

• Kiwi.com invests €200k.

• Bench testing begins on electric motors, controllers and batteries for the one-seater demonstrator.

• Wind tunnel tests validate the aerodynamic calculations.

• A rolling series of subscale transition aircraft begins flying; new configurations are tested at small scale first.

• Work begins on TD 1.0, the company's first full-scale aircraft.

• TD 1.0 achieves full-scale hover.

• TD 1.0 completes an altitude and endurance record flight.

• A V1NG subscale model enters flight testing.

Developer of long-range hybrid-electric uncrewed cargo VTOL aircraft for civil maritime/offshore resupply and defense austere logistics, emphasizing a proven flight record, ITAR-free NATO-interoperable design and a sovereign European supply base.

• TD 2.0

  Full-scale hybrid cargo VTOL technology demonstrator in systems integration and ground test; intended to prove transition and cruise.

• TD 1.0

  Full-scale demonstrator that achieved full-scale hover in 2021 and an altitude and endurance record flight in 2023.

• V1NG subscale model

  Subscale model that entered flight testing in 2025.

• Five-meter concept

  2018 demonstrator that flew as an airplane then in hover; the company's first registered uncrewed aircraft.

• Two-meter model

  2018 model with a two-meter wingspan used to prove basic flight characteristics.

1. 1Zuri · Long-range uncrewed cargo VTOLzuri.com
2. 2Proof · 15+ aircraft flown, hundreds of test flights · Zurizuri.com
3. 3Our story · Nine years of building and flying · Zurizuri.com
4. 4Zuri.comwikidata.org