HyLight, a pioneer of aerial inspection using hydrogen airship drones, announced the raise of a €3.7 million funding round from VCs and business angels including Y Combinator, Ring Capital, Kima Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Marc Tarpenning, the co-founder of Tesla, to decarbonise aerial inspection.
This deal will enable the French Y Combinator alumni to accelerate the deployment of its airship drones at an industrial scale to offer the first zero-emission solution capable of inspecting any type of infrastructure from the air. Power lines, gas pipelines, railways, etc. Finally, a decarbonized, low-cost and efficient solution for all industries in need of collecting aerial data.
These €3.7 million will enable HyLight to achieve three crucial milestones. Firstly, it will provide the opportunity to carry out its first large-scale operations. This operational expansion will support the expansion of its network of strategic partnerships, thereby strengthening its market position. Additionally, the funds will give the company the resources to recruit new experts in various fields: aviation regulation, embedded systems, hydrogen systems, mechanical engineering, industrialization and software development.
Martin Bocken, CEO of HyLight, said: “This round of financing is a decisive milestone for HyLight. It allows us to realize our vision of providing large-scale infrastructure inspection in a decarbonized and highly precise manner. With the support of our investors, we are ready to redefine the standards of industrial inspection and meet growing environmental and regulatory requirements.“
There are 80 million kilometers of energy infrastructure on our planet. That is 200 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. These power lines and pipelines are critical infrastructure for the proper functioning of societies. Therefore, they must be inspected at regular intervals (sometimes several times per month) to ensure their good condition and prevent failures. However, today, infrastructure operators struggle to conduct accurate, large-scale inspections.
To address these challenges, industry professionals have previously had to resort to solutions that were either costly and polluting (helicopters), not precise enough (drone planes and satellites), or lacking in flight autonomy (quadricopter drones). With its hydrogen-powered airship, HyLight drastically reduces inspection costs and enables ultra-precise data to be collected over large areas, all without emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs).
The company has also joined the SkyDeck accelerator at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as leading French accelerators such as Wilco, Agoranov, the Propulse programme run by the French Transport Innovation Agency and and the EDHEC network via Générations, the seed fund of Ring Capital and EDHEC. HyLight also benefits from the support of high-level mentors and investors such as Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning and the former SpaceX launch director, Abhishek Tripathi. Furthermore, the start-up has implemented a project with Enedis, Europe’s largest power line operator. HyLight is also a France 2030 winner, supported by the IDF region.
Myriam Maestroni, President and Founder of e5t, added: “I am delighted to support HyLight in its ambition to revolutionize aerial inspection with its hydrogen-powered airship. This innovative technology provides a decarbonized and efficient solution to meet the growing needs of the energy, transportation, and infrastructure sectors. We are confident that HyLight is well positioned to become a global leader in this rapidly expanding field.“
“We are pleased to support HyLight Aero, which, with its airship, contributes to the decarbonization of aerial inspection by improving the detection of faulty components and methane leaks that are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions,” commented Gaspard Martin, Investor at the Générations fund powered by EDHEC from Ring Capital.
“We were immediately drawn to HyLight Aero’s product and the strong conviction of Thomas, Josef, and Martin. Their airship, which we visited at their site at base 217 in Brétigny, is a very impressive patented innovation, but more importantly, it is an effective ecological alternative that replaces helicopters, which are much more expensive and polluting. We are very proud to participate in the decarbonization of aerial inspection through this investment,” said Sibylle Behaghel, investor at the Générations fund powered by EDHEC from Ring Capital.
