Lachy Groom backs Indian startup aiming to keep aircraft aloft for a year | TechCrunch

Indian aerospace startup Alteon has secured $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by well-known investor Lachy Groom, with participation from Together Fund.

Founded by twenty-year-old entrepreneur Samay Sanghvi, the Bengaluru-based company is developing autonomous fixed-wing aircraft designed to remain airborne for up to a year without traditional fueling. The aircraft utilize dynamic soaring, a flight maneuver modeled after the albatross that extracts energy by navigating different wind speeds close to the ocean's surface. Alteon plans to deploy these long-endurance drones primarily for maritime surveillance to offer continuous, real-time monitoring of oceans for government agencies.

Although the startup has demonstrated basic autonomous low-altitude flight capabilities over the Bay of Bengal, achieving fully energy-neutral flight remains its primary upcoming milestone. Industry experts highlight that operating very close to the water requires overcoming severe environmental obstacles, including localized wind shear, ocean spray, waves, and varying weather patterns that complicate wind harvesting. Despite these significant engineering risks, the company is rapidly expanding its operations, currently manufacturing several test models each week and conducting hundreds of flight trials from its large research and development facility to refine its autonomous systems.