Paris, France-based startup HyLight has raised €3.7 million (US$4 million) to fund the development of its hydrogen-powered airship drone.
HyLight aims “to decarbonize aerial inspection” with its HyLighter drone-airship hybrid, which is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and can fly for up to 10 hours, covering distances of up to 220 miles (350km) at speeds of up to 20mph (35km/h).
HyLighter is equipped with HD cameras, LIDAR, thermal and infrared sensors for inspection applications, a computer and secure data transmission capabilities. A prototype of HyLighter is already being flight tested.
Martin Bocken, CEO of HyLight said, “This round of financing 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.”
The funding will support the expansion of HyLight’s network of strategic partnerships, be used to recruit experts in regulation, embedded systems, hydrogen systems, mechanical engineering, industrialization and software development. In addition HyLight plans to develop improved versions of its airship drone.
The company hopes that as well as aerial inspection of infrastructure such as powerlines and pipelines, other applications for the the drone will include environmental observation for nature conservation.
