What it sells
Autonomous Stratospheric UAVs
Business model breakdown
Buyer: who owns the budget?
UnverifiedAtmospheric science and weather/Earth observation customers (6 customers served, 30 customer-facing trial launches).
Trigger: what makes them buy now?
Over 80% of the 600,000 radiosondes launched each year are lost, as they are single-use.
Workflow: what inputs become what output?
SAAV rides a weather balloon to about 30 km, streams temperature, humidity and pressure, is released, glides and flies back under GPS guidance up to 50 km, lands automatically and is reflown.
Economics: what it saves and how it charges
Reusable instruments versus single-use radiosondes; also high-altitude imaging UAV and stratospheric airship (100 kg payload); pricing not stated.
Funding history and coverage
| Round date | Stage | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Y Combinator Summer 2021 | — | Y Combinator | ycombinator.com |
Profiles summarize public reporting and company websites. Business-model notes are MaxBC's reading of that material, not confirmed facts; unknowns are left blank rather than guessed. Updated 2026-10-12.