Keeping the turbines turning, Latvia’s Aerones raises $30 million

Riga-based robot-enabled wind turbine maintenance and inspection startup Aerones has raised $30 million in Series A round. According to the company, this fresh capital will be used to further up the number of field-deployed robot service teams, expand its presence in Africa and Australia, and bring new services to market, all the while growing its technical and sales functions. 

Already backed by Y-Combinator, Aerones $30 million round was co-led by Lightrock and Haniel and saw the participation of new investor Blume Equity alongside existing investors Change Ventures, Mantas Mikuckas, Metaplanet, Pace Ventures, and Future Positive Capital.

Operating in a market that’s expected to reach $50 billion by 2028, Aerones is employing our robotic friends to, quite literally, hang out and do the jobs that would terrify a large number of us.

Instead of living, breathing, and thus those having a central nervous system, human beings stepping out on the wing of a turbine, for example, and inspecting, maintaining, and repairing those capturers of wind power, Aereones is sending robots to do it instead. And I sleep easier at night not even having to entertain the thought.

Granted, this isn’t to say that human interaction of such activities ends in certain death, in fact, blade failure and fire are the two most common accidents on record when it comes to wind farming, Aerones’ solution promises the same results, only up to six times faster and 40 percent more efficient, when compared to traditional methods, i.e. humans on ropes. 

The startup services approximately half the world’s wind power capacity counting NextEra, GE, Vestas, Enel and Siemens Gamesa amongst its client base, and operates in Europe, and both North and South America.

“Global challenges mean our mission - ensuring the effective operation of global wind power capacity, and our robot-enabled solutions have never been more important or in demand,” commented Aerones co-founder and CEO Dainis Kruze. “With the support of our new and existing investors, we look forward to further scaling our operations, investing in our technology, and enhancing our offering.”

As a point of clarification, as provided by Lightrock, our friends at TechCrunch initially broke this news at year's end last year based on an SEC filing that cites a total of $41 million raised. According to Lightrock, the additional ≈ $11 million came from earlier investors at the seed stage.