Hop Aero
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About Hop Aero
YC company profile
Rocket cargo delivery to contested environments
Hop Aero is building rocket cargo vehicles that deliver to contested environments hundreds of miles away in minutes. Our rockets fly point-to-point into the most austere locations at hypersonic speeds. Hop Aero's goal is to provide the U.S. and allies the asymmetric advantage that deters a future major conflict.
- YC batch: Summer 2026
- Founded: 2024
- Team size: 6
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Country: US
- Status: Active
- Industry: Industrials
- Stage: Early
- YC partner: Tyler Bosmeny
Founders
Matija Milenovic — Founder/CEO
Founder at Hop Aero. Previously CEO at porkchop (electric propulsion for satellites), launched on SpaceX Transporter-3, built $400M+ sales pipeline, sold IP. System Engineer at Destinus leading 20+ person team on supersonic UAV. Scaled Ukrainian loitering munition production from 10 to 100+ units/month. MS Aerospace Engineering KTH Stockholm.
Jacob Balaj — Founder/CTO
Founder at Hop Aero. Previously Integration & Test Engineer at SpinLaunch (satellites), Lead Systems Integration & Test at Masten Space Systems (lunar lander for NASA's CLPS program), and Integration & Test at Virgin Orbit (LauncherOne) and SpaceX (Falcon 9/Heavy—built booster refurbishment process, cut test time in half). Earlier avionics QA on MV-22 tiltrotors in the US Marine Corps.
Source: Y Combinator · Retrieved 2026-11-02. Company information is self-reported on YC.