Lachy Groom backs Indian startup aiming to keep aircraft aloft for a year
Investor Lachy Groom has joined the $2.5 million funding round for a Bengaluru-based company aiming to keep an aircraft airborne for more than 12 months by harvesting energy from ocean winds. The company, named Alteon, was founded by Samay Sanghvi, a 20-year-old, and announced on Tuesday that it secured capital in a pre-seed round led by Groom, with participation from Together Fund. The core idea is to create an autonomous fixed-wing aircraft inspired by dynamic soaring, a technique albatrosses use to extract energy from wind. Groom decided to close the deal within the first 30 minutes of their initial meeting, Sanghvi told TechCrunch exclusively. Conventional aircraft must carry fuel or batteries for flight, but Alteon aims to eliminate this limitation by designing a small, autonomous vehicle that exploits the vertical wind gradient, where air speed increases with altitude.
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Apple’s New CEO Renames Lake Ontario To Lake America In Maps AppAlteon plans to start with an aircraft featuring a wingspan of about three meters, flying near the sea surface, climbing and turning through faster wind zones, repeating the cycle to gain energy from airflow. In the future, propellers will transform into turbines, converting part of the harvested energy into electricity to charge onboard batteries. So far, the company has not demonstrated that the aircraft can sustain flight through continuous wind energy extraction. However, a recent test conducted from the Bay of Bengal showed the autonomous flight system completed six to ten „O”-shaped cycles at speeds over 62 miles per hour, remaining about one meter above the water.
Alteon is working toward a major milestone
Alteon is working toward a major milestone called „energy-neutral dynamic soaring,” which would enable continuous flight with the motor off, extracting enough wind energy to stay airborne. Dr. Gabriel Bousquet, an aerospace and robotics engineer from Silicon Valley who earned his PhD at MIT, called the water-level flight result a „promising first step,” but noted the biggest challenge is proving the aircraft can extract sufficient energy from real-world winds for extended periods. He also highlighted the difficulty of flying at a low enough altitude to avoid turbulence, waves, spray, rain, and light changes, which demand strict sensing and reaction systems relative to the constantly moving ocean surface. Dr. Bharath Swaminathan, who earned his PhD at IIT Madras studying dynamic flow stability, added that the theoretical foundation of the maneuver is crucial, and that maintaining aerial stability in real conditions poses a serious challenge.
Thus, Alteon combines an innovative energy concept with a clear development plan, and its success will depend on the ability to turn this technique into a practical and sustainable solution for long-duration flight.