Flyability raises $11 million to boost indoor autonomous inspection
13.11.2018
The EPFL spin-off and Venture Kick winner, Flyability, just announced the closing of an $11 million Series B financing round. With previous funding, the company has now raised a total of $16 million since its foundation in 2014. The startup will use the newly acquired funds to further develop its safe drones for inaccessible spaces, building the future of indoor autonomous inspection.
 Adrien Briod and Patrick Thévoz of Flyability, © Tina Sturzenegger
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The Lausanne based startup builds safe drones for operating indoors, in complex and confined spaces with many applications in power generation, oil and gas, mining or chemical industries. Founded in 2014, Flyability has developed Elios, a collision-tolerant drone preventing human exposure in hazardous environments while reducing downtime and inspection costs. The startup already counts more than 350 customers and 500+ drones in the field, cumulating thousands of flight hours. This new approach to indoor drone space has attracted the attention to investors leading to Flyability raising $11 million in a Series B round. This round was led by ETF Partners, which had already invested in Series A, and Swisscom Ventures. The Dow Chemical Company, GoBeyond and MKS (Switzerland) also joined the round.
Flyability aims to use the raised capital to increase production and expand its network of partners. In addition, the startup will invest the money to further develop its R&D, namely in 3D mapping, localization and autonomous navigation, creating the future of the autonomous indoor inspection. In the past, Flyability had already demonstrated its 3D mapping and localization capabilities indoors with its unique collision tolerance technology allowing access to the most complex environments quickly and easily. The startup is now looking into taking its research further to push the limits of indoor autonomous flight.
A Venture Kick alumnus, Flyability won CHF 130,000 in the Venture Kick final in 2015. "Venture Kick was our first supporter. In addition to the prize money that allowed us to finance our first prototypes and customer visits, we met some of the advisors and investors with whom we still work today through the program.” said Patrick Thévoz, Flyability CEO and co-founder.
Flyability aims to use the raised capital to increase production and expand its network of partners. In addition, the startup will invest the money to further develop its R&D, namely in 3D mapping, localization and autonomous navigation, creating the future of the autonomous indoor inspection. In the past, Flyability had already demonstrated its 3D mapping and localization capabilities indoors with its unique collision tolerance technology allowing access to the most complex environments quickly and easily. The startup is now looking into taking its research further to push the limits of indoor autonomous flight.
A Venture Kick alumnus, Flyability won CHF 130,000 in the Venture Kick final in 2015. "Venture Kick was our first supporter. In addition to the prize money that allowed us to finance our first prototypes and customer visits, we met some of the advisors and investors with whom we still work today through the program.” said Patrick Thévoz, Flyability CEO and co-founder.