HyLight raises $4 million for its hydrogen airship drone

Paris-based startup HyLight has raised €3.7 million ($4 million) from venture capital financing including Y Combinator, Ring Capital, Kima Ventures, and Collaborative Fund. Funding also came from Tesla cofounder Marc Tarpenning. The funding will help pioneer its hydrogen airship drone, the HyLighter, which will help decarbonise aerial inspections of energy infrastructure including gas pipelines, railways, and power lines. ""This round of financing is a decisive milestone for HyLight,"" said the company's CEO Martin Bocken. ""It allows us to realise our vision of providing large-scale infrastructure inspection in a decarbonised and highly precise manner. With the support of our investors, we are ready to redefine the standards of industrial inspection and meet growing environmental and regulatory requirements."" ""Their airship, which we visited at their site at base 217 in Brétigny, is a very impressive patented innovation, but more importantly, it is an effective ecological alternative that replaces helicopters, which are much more expensive and polluting,"" said investor at the Generations fund powered by EDHEC from Ring Capital Sibylle Behaghel. ""We are very proud to participate in the decarbonisation of aerial inspection through this investment."" The company hopes for the drone to be used in other sectors such as the observation and inspection of forests across Europe, analysing sea levels by observing coastlines and how it will impact farmland.