Solo investor Lachy Groom has led a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round for Alteon, a Bengaluru-based startup founded by 20-year-old Samay Sanghvi. Alteon aims to develop autonomous aircraft capable of remaining airborne for over a year by harnessing energy from ocean winds through a technique known as dynamic soaring, which mimics the energy extraction methods of albatrosses. Groom expressed immediate confidence in the venture, deciding to invest within the first 30 minutes of his initial meeting with Sanghvi.

Alteon’s aircraft are designed to be small, fixed-wing, and autonomous, exploiting wind shear above the ocean to gain energy by repeatedly moving between air layers with different wind speeds. The startup plans to initially deploy these aircraft for maritime surveillance, providing governments with real-time monitoring of their territorial waters. Although Alteon has not yet demonstrated sustained flight solely through energy harvested via dynamic soaring, it recently completed a test over the Bay of Bengal where its aircraft autonomously executed seven O-shaped cycles at speeds exceeding 62 miles per hour, flying within one meter of the water’s surface. The next critical milestone is achieving “energy-neutral dynamic soaring,” enabling the aircraft to fly continuously with propulsion switched off by extracting sufficient energy from the wind to remain aloft.

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