When energy infrastructure, such as electrical towers or gas pipes, are damaged, they are often inspected by expensive helicopters. Drones have begun replacing some of these inspections, but these flight times may be limited. Now a new company produces a drone with a long range to fill the mission, and despite the company’s objection to any “dual use” application, it is clear that it can be used in civilian environments to inspect infrastructure damaged by war.
Hamburg, headquartered in Germany Beagle Use remote drones to capture data about energy infrastructure. Now, it raises a €5 million seed round co-led by Aenu (through partner Fabian Heilemann) and PT1 (through partner Nikolas Samios). Prior to that, it had raised €1.9 million in advance, as well as €2 million in grants and subsidies.
Co-founder Oliver Lichtenstein said he and his team spent five years developing the “computer with wings” they dubbed, complying with strict EU airspace regulations for long-distance flights without personnel on site, and the drone rose from its only housing.
“Our customers paid us data through a one-kilometer pipeline. We are in a positive way with our existing teams and operations in Germany,” he said in an email. “We plan to use this venture capital to accelerate growth.”
This works: the operator sends its grid data to Beagle and gets a quote based on each kilometer of Beagle’s product or two products (methane detection or hazard detection).
Admittedly, Beagle does have competitors, including Intero, Adlares Charm helicopters (methane emissions detected), and local helicopters or small aircraft services. In addition, in terms of business models, the recent picture (US) is similar.
However, Beagle claims to have 75 times the resolution of satellites, which is cheaper, has lower emissions than aircraft, and can fly repeatedly for long distances.
The “complete EU” (“Made in Germany”) solution also means it also has full control over data and software, which is an advantage in today’s world where systems manufactured outside the EU may be against geopolitical headwinds.
“We have also obtained operational approval for EU airspace flights and currently cover 80% of the EU region, except for densely populated areas,” Lichtenstein said.
It is recognized that the market it solves is very large. Worth it in the EU €2 billion Only EU methane regulation need Methane emission tracking, US plan follow Same path.
But while the company is currently limiting drones to civilian applications, Nikolas Samios, PT1’s management partner, commented that it can be used in other situations: “In a world where critical infrastructure is under attack, there has never been more important, from fact-time surveillance infrastructure – from energy lines to potential technology applications, it’s a very broad technology…and so, it’s a wide range of technology.
Lichtenstein previously served on the German Ministry of Transport’s drone advisory board and is now the vice chairman of UAV DACH. Jerry Tang (robot engineer), Mitja Wittersheim and Bendix Böttger (former head of sales Dach at Trustpilot) also joined him.
Lichtenstein met Tang while the Federal Ministry of Transport was working on implementing EU drone regulations and introduced the idea to the company.
