Seneca mentioned its aerial suppression property will be hand-carried, transported with a utility automobile, or stationed and deployed remotely. | Supply: Seneca
Seneca this week emerged from stealth with the aim of constructing autonomous aerial programs that use synthetic intelligence to search out and assault fires early. The corporate has raised $60 million in funding to advance its aim of delivering highly effective fireplace suppression.
The startup mentioned it could actually lengthen the attain of firefighters, utilities, and communities in conditions that have been as soon as unsafe, inefficient, or unattainable. The staff has up to now demonstrated the product’s capabilities on dwell fireplace and with fireplace companies in 4 states.
“The most effective a part of constructing over the past 12 months has been to look at the product evolve — focusing on accuracy enhancements, payload will increase, security enhancements, usability upgrades — and to see firefighters react to new options with every era,” mentioned Seneca.
Seneca founders work with firefighters
Seneca mentioned its founding staff contains:
To develop the know-how, they labored with fireplace leaders together with Chief Dan Munsey of San Bernardino, Calif.; Chief Brian Fennessy of Orange County, Calif.; Chief Jake Andersen of Aspen, Colo.; and Chief Shepley Schroth-Cary of Gold Ridge, Calif.
Seneca mentioned these collaborations be certain that its product gives rapid worth to these combating fires. The corporate’s advisory board contains folks with lengthy monitor information within the fireplace service, together with:
- Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, a former U.S. fireplace administrator
- John Mills, founder and CEO of Watch Obligation
- Rick Balentine, a 25-year chief of the Aspen Fireplace Division
Caffeinated Capital and Convective Capital led the funding spherical. It additionally included participation from First Spherical Capital, Transition VC, Advance Enterprise Companions, Nextview Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Stepstone Group, DCVC, Offline Ventures, Roar Capital, Good Mates, Sluggish Ventures, and MHS Capital.
Seneca mentioned it plans to make use of the funding to enhance its capabilities, harden the general system, enhance manufacturing, and roll out the primary programs to the sector to save lots of lives throughout the 2026 fireplace season.
Drones present potential in firefighting
Wildfire depth has practically tripled over the past twenty years, in response to Seneca. This has price the U.S. financial system round $1 trillion per 12 months, upended 1000’s of lives, and destroyed wild areas and communities. Seneca, like many different builders, believes drones and robotics may also help clear up this drawback.
In late 2023, Rain, a developer of aerial wildfire containment know-how, and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin firm specializing in superior rotorcraft, accomplished check flights utilizing an autonomous helicopter. The system carried and dumped water onto wildfires within the very early phases.
The flight demonstration happened at Sikorsky’s headquarters in Stratford, Conn. The Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter flew in autonomous mode with Sikorsky security pilots on board.
Different corporations, like Kodama Methods, are taking a extra proactive strategy through the use of applied sciences, together with teleoperation and automation, to enhance forest administration operations. The corporate has developed an autonomous skidder to assist in forest thinning, which may also help stop wildfires from burning uncontrolled.
Startups in government-funded sector face challenges
Whereas there’s definitely a rising want for applied sciences that may assist combat wildfires, startups nonetheless face struggles on this space. A lot of them depend on authorities funding to remain afloat, making them susceptible to coverage modifications.
Robotics 88, which gained the Pitchfire competitors on the 2024 RoboBusiness occasion, used drones to supply autonomous subcanopy surveys of gasoline masses for prescribed burn planning.
The Boston startup closed its doorways earlier this 12 months. Erin Linebarger, founder and CEO of Robotics 88, instructed The Robotic Report that she hopes to make the corporate’s IP open-source to assist efforts to combat wildfires.
