HyLight secures €13 million for airship production and European expansion
The French infrastructure-inspection start-up plans to recruit 50 employees and increase its fleet to 15 aircraft within a year.
HyLight has raised €13 million to scale up manufacturing and commercial operations for its autonomous airships, which use hydrogen power to inspect critical infrastructure. The French start-up plans to expand production, recruit staff and develop its automated analysis of inspection data.
Rubio Impact Ventures, DRW and Teampact Ventures participated in the financing, together with returning investors Ring Capital and Y Combinator. HyLight has opened a manufacturing facility and intends to make more strategic components in-house.
The company plans to increase its fleet from four aircraft to 15 within a year. Its European commercial expansion will prioritise Germany and the Netherlands, with Belgium another possible market. The funding will support 50 recruits across technical, operational, regulatory and commercial roles.
Founded in 2022, HyLight operates from Air Base 217 in Brétigny-sur-Orge, France. Customers include Enedis, NaTran, Téréga, SNCF Réseau and VINCI. Rather than sell aircraft or a separate data platform, it handles aircraft production, flights and data collection, then supplies customers with the findings.
Martin Bocken, HyLight's co-founder and chief executive, said inspections covered almost 3,000 kilometres of infrastructure during September. The company has also completed a single mission covering 350 kilometres. Its existing processing tools locate vegetation-related risks and identify more than 50 defect types in electricity networks; a planned platform would consolidate inspection information to help anticipate risks.
