Prominent solo investor Lachy Groom has backed a Bengaluru startup attempting an ambitious feat: keeping an aircraft in the sky for more than a year by harvesting energy from ocean winds. The startup, Alteon, founded by 20-year-old Samay Sanghvi, recently announced it raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Groom, with participation from Together Fund. Sanghvi noted that Groom decided to invest within the first 30 minutes of their initial meeting.

Innovative Approach to Flight

Conventional aircraft typically rely on fuel or battery power for flight. Alteon aims to overcome this limitation by designing small, fixed-wing autonomous aircraft that can extract energy from wind shear above the ocean through a technique known as dynamic soaring. This maneuver allows the aircraft to move between layers of air traveling at different speeds, thereby harvesting energy from the wind.

“Once you build airplanes that can stay in the air for more than a year, there are millions of things you can do with them,” Sanghvi stated. The initial application for these aircraft will be maritime surveillance, providing governments with real-time visibility into activities in their waters.

Technical Challenges Ahead

The startup plans to develop an aircraft with a wingspan of approximately three meters that will fly close to the ocean’s surface, climbing and turning through faster-moving air to gain energy. Eventually, Alteon intends to use its propellers as turbines to convert some of that energy into electricity to recharge onboard batteries.

However, the startup has yet to demonstrate that its aircraft can sustain flight using energy harvested through dynamic soaring. It recently completed a test of its autonomous flight system over the Bay of Bengal, where the aircraft autonomously executed seven O-shaped cycles at speeds exceeding 62 miles per hour, flying within one meter of the water’s surface.

Alteon’s next major milestone is what Sanghvi refers to as “energy-neutral dynamic soaring,” which would enable the aircraft to fly continuously with its propulsion switched off, relying solely on energy extracted from the wind.

Expert Opinions on Feasibility

Dr. Gabriel Bousquet, a Silicon Valley-based aerospace and robotics engineer, described Alteon’s low-altitude flight over water as a “promising first result.” However, he cautioned that the more significant challenge lies in proving that the aircraft can reliably extract enough energy from real-world winds for extended flight durations. Flying low enough to harvest energy safely presents additional difficulties, as the aircraft must navigate turbulence, waves, spray, rain, and varying light conditions while continuously sensing and reacting to a moving ocean surface.

Dr. Bharath Swaminathan, who studied the stability of dynamic soaring, acknowledged the well-established physics behind the concept but noted that local wind shear and turbulence can vary significantly, complicating the aircraft’s ability to continuously extract energy. He emphasized that some challenges may only become apparent through real-world flight testing.

Groom recognized the technical risks associated with this venture, stating, “Ambitious problems are always going to come with risks. For me, it came down to believing Samay and the Alteon team are the ones to figure them out.”

Sanghvi began working on what would become Alteon straight out of high school in 2023, learning to build aircraft through trial and error with radio-controlled models before developing early prototypes. He formally founded Alteon in 2025 and received initial backing from Emergent Ventures and 1517. The startup now employs a team of 20 in Bengaluru and operates from a 10,000-square-foot facility, building four to five aircraft weekly for testing and conducting over 200 test flights in the past 30 days.