French Startup's Hydrogen Airships Just Raised $14M to Replace Helicopters

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-12

## From Four Aircraft to a Fleet: HyLight's $14M Raise HyLight, a French startup that inspects critical infrastructure with autonomous hydrogen-powered airships, just raised €13 million (about $14 million). The round was led by Rubio Impact Ventures, DRW, and Teampact Ventures, with existing investors Y Combinator and Ring Capital joining in. Founded in 2022, the company has done something rare for an industrial startup: designed, built, industrialized, and operated its own aircraft in France. It also develops the software and AI that turn flight data into actionable insights. In just four years, its HyLighters have inspected thousands of miles across France and begun replacing helicopter missions for major infrastructure operators. ### Why This Matters for European Startups This news comes at a time when the EU Inc proposal—a plan to make it easier for startups to incorporate and scale across Europe—is gaining traction. HyLight's success shows how a European startup can turn a deep-tech idea into a real business, even in a regulated industry. It's a proof point that Europe can produce world-class hardware companies. ### The Problem: Helicopters Are Stuck in the Past Power lines, gas pipelines, and railways need regular inspection. Climate change, tighter regulations, and safety risks are making that need even more urgent. Worldwide, there are over 50 million miles of linear infrastructure that require billions of dollars in annual investment. Yet helicopters still dominate inspection, despite high costs, emissions of up to a metric ton of CO₂e per flight hour, noise, and limited availability. Drones lack range, satellites lack precision, and ground sensors only cover small areas. > "Most power lines are still inspected by helicopter, just as they were fifty years ago. Our HyLighters already do the same job, with greater precision and less risk. This funding takes us from four aircraft to a fleet." — Martin Bocken, co-founder and CEO of HyLight ### The Solution: Hydrogen-Powered Airships The HyLighter is 39 feet long and combines the endurance of an aircraft with the precision of an inspection platform. It's electrically powered by hydrogen, so it flies with no direct emissions and very low noise for up to ten hours. Target range is 217 miles. It can carry up to 22 pounds of sensors, including LiDAR, cameras, and methane detectors. At an altitude of 82 feet, it delivers 1 mm/pixel resolution imaging and LiDAR density exceeding 1,000 points per square meter. Authorized by the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) and EASA, the HyLighter flies beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) over critical infrastructure in rural, suburban, and urban environments. It has flown over the Palace of Versailles and been showcased on the Champs-Élysées, at VivaTech, and at the Grand Palais—proof it can operate in sensitive, densely populated areas. ### From Data to Decisions Beyond inspection, HyLight turns flight data into decision-making tools. Its AI automatically identifies and geolocates more than 50 types of defects and vegetation risks across power grids. That replaces thousands of raw images with precise, actionable information for maintenance teams. As flights increase, the data builds a continuously enriched digital twin of the infrastructure and territories covered—creating a new layer of multimodal data with future applications in insurance, agriculture, and public land management. ### Scaling Up HyLight is already industrializing. Its new production facility is online, and it's internalizing strategic component manufacturing. The goal: operate up to 15 HyLighters simultaneously by 2027, compared to four today. The new funding will support hiring 50 employees across engineering, AI and data, operations, regulatory affairs, and business development. For European startups watching the EU Inc proposal, HyLight is a case study in how to turn deep tech into a scalable business—and maybe even change an industry along the way.