Company receives financial injection for the development of heat-resistant drones
The company FireDrone has received CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to bring its temperature-resistant drones to market. The engineering startup is setting new safety standards in the field of emergency response and industrial inspection. Its drones protect lives, infrastructure and the environment and help to make risky operations around the world safer.
Firefighters and industrial safety teams face major risks when they have to assess hot environments such as burning buildings or industrial furnaces. These operations are characterized by toxic smoke, risk of collapse and extreme heat. Conventional drones fail under such conditions - and emergency services lack the urgently needed real-time overview.
Inspections at over 200 °C
The Empa spin-off FireDrone develops autonomous, heat-resistant drones that can withstand temperatures of over 200 °C and enable real-time hazard detection in environments where conventional technologies fail. Thanks to innovative thermal insulation and integrated cooling systems, the drones increase safety, reduce downtime and improve decision-making in critical situations.
FireDrone focuses on two main markets: high-temperature industrial inspections and public safety. Together they represent a market volume of around USD 12.1 billion - of which USD 6.45 billion is in industrial inspection and USD 5.65 billion in firefighting. The initial addressable market of approximately USD 1 billion includes industries such as cement, steel and aluminium production, waste recycling, fertilizer and glass production as well as emergency response applications. These sectors share key needs: Minimizing downtime, increasing workplace safety and meeting regulatory requirements - challenges that FireDrone's technology addresses with precise real-time monitoring in extreme environments.
Accelerate market entry
The CHF 150,000 from the Venture Kick funding will accelerate market entry: FireDrone is expanding its business development team, establishing sales and maintenance partnerships, driving forward product certifications and converting pilot projects into pre-orders in the target industries.
The founding team combines leading expertise in robotics, materials science and aeronautical engineering. Founders Dr. Fabian Wiesemüller and David Häusermann bring many years of experience in drone design and autonomous systems - a combination that perfectly positions FireDrone to redefine the standard for operations in extreme heat. The company's delight at the financial injection is correspondingly high: „Venture Kick was a big win for us,“ emphasizes co-founder Fabian Wiesemüller. „The program helped us turn an ambitious idea into a company, sharpen our business model with valuable expert feedback and open doors to partners and investors. Venture Kick offers much more than seed capital - it creates visibility, structure and momentum that significantly accelerate FireDrone's growth.“
Source: venturekick.ch
