Skyqraft, a startup that uses AI & Drones for the inspection of electivity power-line has received $505,000 in its early backing round. Startup generator and investor Antler led the round that saw number of participations from angels including Claes Ekström and Tomas Kåberger.
The company was founded in March 2019 and it provides smart infrastructure inspections for power-lines by using unmanned airplanes which are combined with AI to gather images and detect risk automatically. Typically, these power lines are inspected by teams of people and helicopters, however, the company is revolutionizing the area using AI and Airplanes.
Skyqraft founder and CMO, Sakina Turabali earlier stated that power-line inspections most importantly are not environmentally friendly, very costly and unsafe with the use of helicopters and people. Further added, “We provide smart infrastructure inspections using unmanned airplanes by gathering images and 360-degree videos. This data is further fed into a machine learning system that further automatically detects any risk to the power-lines”.
The company also announced that they were able to achieve many key set milestones along with a proper contract with one of the clients for the yearly inspection. The client earlier used to have helicopters for their yearly inspections. Apart from this, the company is also working to pilot runs with Eon, two Swedish municipalities, and New York Gas and Electric.
The company offers the customer a full service that inspects both transmission and distribution grids using the machine learning system to detect any threats automatically. Whereas, the majority of their competitors only offer inspection of transmission grids and some of the companies’ competitors only provide machine learning software and do not fly with drones and inspect the grid.
Talking about the new funding, the company will use if for building further machine learning software and expanding the map user interface for its customers. They will also continue to build their drone operation teams and test new apparatus.
Image Courtesy: Techcrunch
