Aeronesa robotics startup that scrubs and inspects wind turbines so people don’t have to, secured $38.9 million in new funding this month from dozens of undisclosed investors, businessroundups.org has learned.
Wind turbines produce clean energy, but their towers tend to do that leaking oil, which can corrode blades, increase wind resistance and contaminate the soil below. Aerones’ remote-controlled robots clean towers and blades by blasting them with a liquid detergent, while funnels under the blades collect the accumulated liquid for reuse. The robots also inspect turbine systems with cameras and ultrasonic scanners.
The Aerones site states that the company has so far cleaned more than 5,000 turbines in 19 countries. For context, there are more than 72,000 wind turbines in the US alone. Turbines in 2021 generated about 9% of all electricity in the states.
Backed by Y Combinator and hailing from Latvia, Aerones aims to raise at least $2.5 million more, according to a Submit with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The startup did not immediately respond to a request for more details about the round.
In April, Aerones raised $9 million in seed funding from French Future Positive Capital and Estonia-based Change Ventures. At the time, co-founder Dainis Kruze said the company was “scaling up operations rapidly” and was already working with 9 of the 10 of the industry’s largest companies, including GE.
