Investors including DFJ Esprit and Cambridge Consultants are backing portfolio company Aveillant as the business looks to build out its supply chain.
Established in 2011 when Cambridge Consultants spun the business out, Aveillant initially developed a holographic infill radar technology to detect between the whirring of wind turbine blades and other moving objects such as aircraft.
The business has run trials in Scotland and the US during the last year and secured a contract from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in December to find what it calls a ‘spectrum efficient alternative to S-band primary air traffic surveillance radar’.
Aveillant says it is now in conversations with partners, which it hopes will back up its wind farm mitigation business and growth in new markets.
David Crisp, CEO of Cambridge-based Aveillant, comments, ‘We have now proven that holographic radar technology has provided the largest performance improvement in surveillance radars for many decades.
‘This has been confirmed through analysis by independent aviation experts and we are now about to launch our new product range that provides this same high level performance at much longer range, with 360 coverage.’
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Having served as an entrepreneur-in-residence for a Californian venture capital firm, Crisp was made CEO of e-commerce business Neopost Obline. Having returned to the UK, where he had previously set up communications software company Eden Group, he became Orecon CEO.
Aveillant’s holographic radar technology is now being applied for air traffic purposes, detecting ‘non-cooperative’ targets at locations including Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
The new investment round is its first since February 2013 when DFJ, Cambridge Consultants and ESB Novusmodus combined to lead a cash injection of £6.75 million.
