Aerones, a startup aiming to improve the prospects of wind power through better turbine maintenance and inspection, has just secured €27.7 million ($30 million) in growth capital. The Riga-based team is now ready to drive forward its expansion strategy as demand rises.
With an appetite for green technologies growing across the world, innovators are creating solutions that will enable a greener and more sustainable society for generations to come. A critical part of this is the unfolding energy transition – a movement towards using fully renewable, non-harmful energy sources. Wind energy is one source of energy that is becoming increasingly popular and now innovators are looking for ways to make it even more efficient and accessible.
Currently, the maintenance of wind turbines is complex and costly, and with growing demand for this energy option, things need to change. Aerones has developed a robot-enabled wind turbine maintenance and inspection solution, and after receiving new investment, is ready to scale.
Funding details
- €27.7 million in growth capital raised
- Funding round was led by Lightrock alongside Haniel
- Other round participants include existing investors Change Ventures, Mantas Mikuckas, Metaplanet, Pace Ventures and Future Positive Capital
Dainis Kruze, co-founder & CEO of Aerones: “Global challenges mean our mission – ensuring the effective operation of global wind power capacity – and our robot-enabled solutions have never been more important or in demand. With the support of our new and existing investors, we look forward to further scaling our operations, investing in our technology, and enhancing our offering.”
Founded in 2019, Aerones, which came out of Ycombinator, started out life with basic inspection services and has since expanded its offering to provide a full suite of inspection (external visual, internal blade, lighting protection, ultrasound), maintenance (painting, ice-phobic coating, blade and tower cleaning) and repair (leading edge) services for wind turbines.
The Riga-based company aims to deliver faster, safer and more effective services for wind operators worldwide. Its suite of tools promotes intelligent predictive maintenance of wind turbine blades and towers, helping to maximize the efficiency of wind assets and lower operating costs. Currently, a lot of this work is done by certified rope access technicians who are in short supply, are very expensive, and cannot operate in bad weather.
The wind energy maintenance market is worth about $30 billion, and Aerones claim to be 6x faster, safer and 40% more efficient than current processes.
For this reason, the company has grown at a fast pace since its 2019 launch. Aerones’ clients already represent 50% of the world’s wind power capacity – including Siemens, Vestas, NextEra, and Enel.
Nigel McCleave, at Lightrock: “Aerones has developed a unique robotic platform that generates real ROI for customers in a huge growth market. We’re excited to be backing Dainis, Janis, and the whole Aerones team as they continue to reduce costs and inefficiencies in the global wind industry.”
With this new funding in the bank, Aerones plans to grow its staff headcount, increase the number of field-deployed robot service teams, expand its presence in fast-growing markets including Africa and Australia, and bring new services to market.
Philipp Goehre, Growth Capital Lead at Haniel: “We are extremely proud to partner with Aerones which is rethinking the way wind turbines will be serviced going forward. It’s a perfect fit for our climate tech investment focus and we will actively support the company leveraging both our experience and our network.”
