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Attracting KRW 2.5 billion in Pre-Series A Bridge Investment
Independent AI and fusion sensor technology, eVTOL business expansion
Expansion of business areas in the field of 'smart infrastructure'

[Sisa Journal e=Reporter Lee Chang-won] WEFLO, a start-up company that develops and provides solutions to diagnose and manage the safety of future urban air mobility such as drones and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) through AI and big data, is entering the global market in earnest.

In particular, WEFLO is drawing attention as it is expanding its business area to "smart infrastructure" that can be unmanned and automated beyond safety diagnosis and management based on its global competitive technology.

◇ eVTOL gas condition diagnosis and inspection in 10 seconds..."Contactless inspection solution 'World's First'"

According to the industry on the 10th, WEFLO attracted 2.5 billion won worth of Pre-Series A Bridge investment last month. WEFLO's cumulative investment attraction, which succeeded in attracting Pre-Series investment last year, is about 6.3 billion won.

In addition, last month, it was selected for the "Scale-Up Tips" program organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and will receive 1.2 billion won in R&D funds over the next three years.

WEFLO, which was spun off from Hanwha System's in-house venture in April 2022, started as a safety diagnosis and management solution for drones and is currently expanding its business to eVTOL fields such as electric vehicles and air taxis.

eVTOL refers to a model that can take off and land vertically using an electric battery, and various types such as private 1st and 2nd-seater private jets and 4-6th-seater air taxis are currently being produced in the global market.

WEFLO's representative solutions include "verti-Pit" an AI smart inspection solution for drone safety inspection, "verti-Pit Pro" a solution specialized in air taxi appearance inspection, and "verti-I" a system that monitors the condition of aircraft in real time.

Above all, a technology that diagnoses and checks the condition of eVTOL gas in 10 seconds using AI and big data technology is WEFLO's own core technology.

The AI fusion sensor developed by WEFLO extracts data with only the eVTOL gas operating drive part operating, and enables quantitative diagnosis and inspection of failures. In addition, the data accumulated in time series supports users' decision-making, such as motor replacement, through the AI dashboard.

Such a WEFLO solution is evaluated to save inspection costs and time and minimize judgment errors that may occur during visual inspection.

An official from WEFLO said, "We have 23 patents for WEFLO, so our technology is the biggest strength," adding, "It is the first solution in the world to use AI fusion sensors to check in a non-contact manner in the aviation sector."

"Through advanced technology, more sophisticated and accurate work is possible than humans, and in particular, air taxis can improve cost, time, and safety," he added. "We expect such technology to contribute to the commercialization of air taxis."

In addition, WEFLO believes that easy, fast, and safe airframe inspection and diagnosis solutions are sufficiently competitive at a time when single-person airframes such as light airplanes, which have been used in global markets such as the United States, are aging and transitioning to eVTOL.

◇ Joining AAM WG Official Member Company...Expanding 'integrated infrastructure' that can be delivered to control and logistics

WEFLO is speeding up its entry into the global market based on such technology.

It introduced AI smart inspection solutions for drones and air taxis at the "2024 EAA Air Venture Oshkosh" held in Wisconsin, USA, and became an official member of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Future Aerospace Mobility (AAM) Working Group (WG) to pave the way for entry into the U.S. market.

AAM WG is a group to accelerate the development of large-scale AAM flight operations and shares the latest trends, technologies, regulations, policies, and networking and partnerships in the AAM market.

In particular, through exchanges with official members such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), Skyports, Wisk, and the New York Aviation Promotion Agency (NUAIR), WEFLO is expected to gain great advantages in the process of establishing global market business strategies.

"Drones and air taxis have been targeting global markets since their inception because they are much larger and growing faster in the global market." a WEFLO official said. "We are conducting business in accordance with U.S. regulations and standards."

In addition, WEFLO is also focusing on building smart infrastructure using its own AI technology and non-contact fusion sensor technology.

As part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "Drone Delivery Demonstration Project" last year, WEFLO completed the construction of a Bertifit that enables unmanned inspection based on sensors and AI in 15 locations across the country, and this year, it is expanding its integrated infrastructure that enables drone inspection, control and logistics delivery, including drone delivery centers.