Who Patrick Thévoz is
Thévoz completed a master's degree in robotics at EPFL and launched Flyability with the aim of using flying robots to keep people out of hazardous environments.1
Inspired by insects
He started the company in 2014 with his cousin Adrien Briod. Thévoz told swissinfo.ch that their early research was inspired by insects, especially flies, and how they cope with difficult environments.2
The first idea was humanitarian search and rescue, but the founders soon saw a bigger market in industrial inspection. Flyability won the $1 million Drones for Good prize in 2015.2
Today our competition is mostly scaffolding and human inspections.Patrick Thévoz, swissinfo.ch
Building the business
Under Thévoz, Flyability has grown to more than 1,450 customers and more than 2,750 Elios drones in more than 50 countries.1
In a 2022 interview with Verve Ventures, he said the company was targeting CHF 20 million in revenue that year and had raised about CHF 27 million.3
Links
Sources
Photo: Flyability, Company page.
