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

Investor Lachy Groom has backed Bengaluru-based startup Alteon in its ambitious plan to keep an aircraft in the sky for over a year by harnessing ocean wind energy. Alteon, founded by 20-year-old Samay Sanghvi, recently secured $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Groom, with Together Fund participating. The startup aims to develop autonomous, small fixed-wing aircraft inspired by dynamic soaring, a technique albatrosses use to extract energy from wind shear above the ocean.

Conventional aircraft rely on fuel or battery power for flights, but Alteon's aircraft would autonomously extract energy through dynamic soaring cycles between air layers traveling at different speeds. The initial plan is to build a three-meter-wingspan aircraft that can fly close to the ocean's surface, climb, and turn to gain energy, with the potential to convert that energy into electricity for battery recharging.

While the startup hasn't yet demonstrated continuous flight using harvested energy, it recently completed a test of its autonomous flight system over the Bay of Bengal, with the aircraft completing seven O-shaped cycles at over 62 miles per hour while flying within one meter of the water's surface. Experts view Alteon's progress as promising, though challenges remain in proving the aircraft can reliably extract enough energy from real-world winds and contend with turbulence, waves, spray, rain, and changing light conditions.