Hélicéo is a French start-up that designs, develops and implements innovative civilian drone systems for use in geomatics applications. The company is based in Nantes and has just completed raising funds of €1.5 million.
This financing has been raised through Sequoia, Feed and the Pays-de-la-Loire Region and will encourage the Hélicéo's development by boosting the company's design office as well as its international expansion.
In just over a year of existence, and already boasting two patents, the Hélicéo engineering company has amply demonstrated the versatility of its know-how, with two state-of-the-art vertical take-off plane drones; two multi-rotor drones (Fox 4 and Fox 6); the unique Drone Box concept; HASK software for processing GPS data, and a big data solution.
From design through to distribution, it offers professional imaging systems - mainly for use in the topography sector. Its drones are the crucial link in a complete value chain that includes the equipment, software, maintenance, training, image processing and final analysis, as well as making these available via a web platform.
"The drone is the future for surveyors! It offers them unrivalled working conditions, allowing them to significantly improve accuracy, safety and productivity in one fell swoop. Our approach has been to concentrate on this market, constructing our own industry packages to offer surveyors a turnkey solution that is a perfect match for their needs," explains Jean-François Baudet, CEO, Hélicéo.
A French start-up positioned for international expansion
Based at the Hub Créatic in Nantes (a business incubator), Hélicéo's engineers and technicians work together, moving freely between neighbouring open plan offices and factory. This proximity is written into the company's DNA, and underpins the rapid development of this start-up.
Its expansion will be stretching well beyond the French market. Following confirmation of its presence at trade shows in New Orleans and Las Vegas, Hélicéo will be opening in Germany and the UK this year, and in the US in 2017.
Hélicéo is a multi-disciplinary team of 16 engineers and technicians in the fields of geomatics, aeronautics, structural calculation, IT, embedded electronics, topography, design, and work with composite materials.
5 new employees should be joining them by the end of this year. By 2017, it will be a 30-person team.
The start-up also stands out for its firm anchoring in the region. Hélicéo works with many regional industries, in particular for carbon steel cutting, electronics, composites, aluminium machining, and design. It has been awarded prizes by both the Airbus and the Total development programmes, as well as twice by Réseau Entreprendre.
The company's innovation projects have led to an award from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and have also earned it the JEI (Jeune Entreprise Innovante – Young Innovative Enterprise) label.
About Hélicéo: a French start-up founded in 2014 and based in Nantes specialising in the design, manufacture and distribution of measurement systems for drone geomatics. The company brings together a driven and multi-disciplinary team of 16 people. Their skills cover: aeronautics, structural calculation, IT, embedded electronics, topography, design, industrial project management, and work with composite materials. Hélicéo savoir-faire thus enables the development of a coherent and complete value chain comprising the equipment, the processing of topographic images, and their final analysis.
http://www.heliceo.com/fabricant-drone-civil-professionnel/