03/09/2026
A 20-YEAR-OLD WHO NEVER STUDIED ENGINEERING JUST RAISED $2.5 MILLION TO REIMAGINE AIRCRAFT. ✈️🇮🇳
Bengaluru-based startup Alteon has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop an autonomous aircraft designed to stay airborne for months—and eventually more than a year.
The founder? Samay Sanghvi, just 20.
He started building aircraft shortly after leaving high school in 2023, learning through prototypes, experiments—and plenty of crashes. He formally founded Alteon in 2025 and has since built a 20-person team in Bengaluru.
The idea is inspired by albatrosses, which can travel huge distances by using a technique called dynamic soaring—harvesting energy from differences in wind speed at different heights.
Alteon wants its small aircraft to do something similar over the ocean, potentially allowing it to remain in the sky for incredibly long periods without constantly relying on fuel or large batteries.
Its recent test was already impressive: the aircraft autonomously completed repeated loops less than a metre above the ocean’s surface.
But the biggest challenge remains.
Alteon still has to prove that the aircraft can sustain flight using wind energy alone.
If it succeeds, aircraft that can stay in the sky for months—or even over a year—could transform maritime surveillance, ocean monitoring, weather mapping and more.
From building RC aircraft after high school to chasing a dream that could change aviation — Samay Sanghvi is proving that sometimes, curiosity can take you places a degree never could. 🚀🇮🇳