HyLight raises €13 million for its autonomous airships inspecting Europe’s critical infrastructure

What happened

HyLight, the French startup specializing in aerial inspection of critical infrastructure using autonomous hydrogen-powered airships, has just raised €13 million from Rubio Impact Ventures, DRW and Teampact Ventures, joined by existing investors Y Combinator and Ring Capital. Founded in 2022, the young company has already reached a milestone few industrial startups achieve: designing, building, industrializing […] The post HyLight raises €13 million for its autonomous airships inspecting Europe’s critical infrastructure appeared first on EU-Startups .

Founded in 2022, the young company has already reached a milestone few industrial startups achieve: designing, building, industrializing and operating its own aircraft in France, while developing the software and artificial intelligence that turn the data they collect into directly actionable insights. The fresh funding will now enable HyLight to scale: industrializing its fleet, strengthening its automated data analysis capabilities and deploying a new data infrastructure across Europe to help monitor and protect critical networks and territories.

In four years, its HyLighters have inspected thousands of kilometers across France, flown in several European countries and begun replacing helicopter missions for major infrastructure operators. Power lines, gas pipelines and railways face growing inspection needs as climate change, tightening regulations and safety risks converge, with more than 80 million kilometers of linear infrastructure worldwide requiring billions of euros in investment every year.