Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Alteon has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop autonomous aircraft designed to remain airborne for months by harnessing wind energy over the ocean.
The round was led by Lachy Groom, an early Stripe executive and co-founder of robotics company Physical Intelligence. Operator-led venture firm Together Fund, co-founded by Girish Mathrubootham and Manav Garg, also participated.
Alteon plans to use the funding to develop aircraft capable of achieving “energy-neutral dynamic soaring”. The technique would allow an aircraft to remain airborne without propulsion by extracting enough energy from changes in wind speed to sustain flight.
Inspired by albatrosses, dynamic soaring involves repeatedly moving between layers of air travelling at different speeds. The aircraft can gain energy as it climbs, turns and dives, potentially helping overcome the fuel and battery constraints that limit flight endurance.
The startup said its aircraft completed multiple consecutive autonomous loops less than 1 metre above the open ocean during an offshore test in early August. According to Alteon, the test demonstrated the aircraft’s ability to perform a demanding low-altitude manoeuvre in real offshore conditions.
However, the test did not demonstrate sustained flight powered solely by wind energy. Achieving that remains the startup’s next major technical challenge.
“Building aircraft that fly for over a year using it is not a matter of a single technical breakthrough but a matter of solving a range of challenging engineering problems across autonomy, structures, aero and more,” founder Samay Sanghvi said.
“As we go from measuring flight time in hours to months, the standard everything has to meet goes up with it,” he added.
Sanghvi began working on the project in 2023, shortly after leaving high school, and formally founded Alteon in 2025. The startup now has a 20-member team based in Bengaluru.
Alteon had previously received backing from Emergent Ventures and investor 1517.
The company sees potential applications across weather and ocean mapping, ship and fishing activity tracking, critical infrastructure monitoring, defence and search-and-rescue operations.
Alteon has not yet announced any customers or a timeline for commercial deployment.
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