HyLight raises €13M to industrialise its hydrogen inspection airships across Europe

HyLight (Paris) has raised €13 million from Rubio Impact Ventures, DRW, and Teampact Ventures, with existing investors Y Combinator and Ring Capital renewing their positions. The company was founded in 2022 by Martin Bocken (CEO), Josef Rokůsek (CTO), and Thomas Laporte (CBO), whose combined average age is 27. No stage label was applied to the round at announcement; a prior €3.7 million seed closed in April 2024. Ring Capital has previously backed ProYarn-tracked Ed.ai; Y Combinator has backed Adaptyv Bio and Bravi in recent ProYarn coverage — making HyLight its third appearance in the archive.

What the HyLighter does

Inspection of power lines, pipelines, and railways is a multi-billion-euro annual problem that helicopters have owned for sixty years and that drones, satellites, and ground sensors have not meaningfully displaced — each solves one constraint while leaving others open. Drones lack range; satellites lack resolution; ground sensors cover only fixed points. HyLight's aircraft addresses the constraint set differently.

The HyLighter is 12 metres long, helium-buoyed and hydrogen-fuel-cell powered: zero direct emissions, very low noise, flying BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) for up to ten hours with a 350 km target range. It carries up to 10 kg of sensors — LiDAR, cameras, methane detectors — delivering 1 mm/pixel imaging at 25 metres altitude and LiDAR density exceeding 1,000 points per square metre. The DGAC and EASA have certified it for BVLOS flight over critical infrastructure in rural, suburban, and urban environments. The company builds its own aircraft, runs its own flights, and processes the data in-house: it does not sell raw imagery but automatically geolocated defects and vegetation risks, across more than 50 defect types. Operational customers include Enedis, NaTran, Téréga, VINCI, and SNCF Réseau. HyLight today operates four HyLighters and has inspected thousands of kilometres across France and several European countries.

What the round is for

The €13 million funds three things in sequence. First, industrialise the fleet to 15 HyLighters operated simultaneously by 2027 — the new production facility is already online, and further internalisation of strategic component manufacturing is underway. Second, hire ~50 people across aeronautical engineering, AI and data, operations, regulatory affairs, and business development to support the larger fleet. Third, open commercial positions in Germany and the Netherlands as the first non-French markets, with Belgium also under consideration. Rubio Impact Ventures' involvement brings an impact-investment mandate from within an ESG-oriented LP base; DRW adds transatlantic industrial network; Teampact Ventures brings deep-tech operations experience. Y Combinator continuing through a second round is a data point worth noting: the fund ordinarily invests at formation and follows on selectively.

The 18-month test

Inspection hardware companies have failed at exactly this transition before — from a working prototype and a handful of pilots to a fleet large enough to justify the recurring revenue model and the institutional risk appetite. HyLight has moved faster than most: design, build, certification, and commercial operation all achieved within three years. The data layer is potentially the more interesting long-term business: each flight builds a digital twin of the infrastructure covered, with future applications in insurance, agriculture, and public land management. But that thesis is only reachable if the primary inspection business scales first. The German and Dutch expansion will test whether the French commercial model — built around Enedis-scale national operators — translates into markets with different grid architectures and regulatory regimes.