Kush Agarwal is the Founder and CEO of Aviern (YC F26), a Y Combinator-backed autonomous aviation company building unmanned fixed-wing aircraft for geospatial intelligence and infrastructure inspection.

Kush earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA, where he served as president of the Uncrewed Aerial Systems club and developed and taught drone engineering courses as an instructor.

A serial and technical founder, Kush brings a rare combination of hands-on aerospace engineering and AI integration expertise, having worked in drone operations and autonomous systems before launching Aviern.

Prior to Aviern, Kush led drone operations at Matter Intelligence and worked on AI agent integration at Fetch.ai, building deep domain expertise across autonomous flight and intelligent systems.

Aviern targets the PHMSA-mandated pipeline patrol market, replacing costly helicopter crews that fly lines up to 26 times a year with a fully autonomous, per-mile-as-a-service model for pipeline and utility operators.