GRAND FORKS, North Dakota — Thread, formerly Airtonomy, announced the first installment of what will be more than $15 million in Series A funding. Thread’s software enables customers to inspect critical infrastructure and deliver accurate analytics rapidly through a robust data and asset management platform.
The Series A funding round is led by Badlands Capital and Partner Blaine Crissman, who commented, “We are tremendously excited to lead one of the largest Series A funding rounds in North Dakota history. Thread is poised for continued explosive growth and we look forward to contributing to their success.”
Thread is revolutionizing how companies manage asset lifecycle in the renewable energy, oil and gas, and utility sectors, among other industries. Thread is helping companies like Xcel Energy, a top 5 utility and arguably the industry leader in unmanned aerial systems innovation, enable more efficient, accurate and scalable delivery of asset inspections across their portfolio of renewable generation such as wind turbines, solar, and transmission.
North Dakota based startup leverages
initial funding to accelerate growth.
Companies today are overwhelmed by how time-consuming and costly it can be to perform traditional inspections. Thread’s software allows customers to compare critical inspection data, analyze trends, and assess overall asset health and performance across multiple disciplines in one single digital asset catalog for the first time ever. Thread’s platform delivers timely and accurate data to customers, helping to identify when and where inspections are required while eliminating the need for external service provider scheduling and costs. This collection of attributes is saving customers like Xcel Energy thousands of hours in asset data organization and analysis.
Initial funding support was provided by the Microsoft TechSpark program, giving rise to Thread with a first of its kind investment. Since then, many partners including Xcel Energy, Otter Tail Power, and Minnkota Power, who is also among Thread’s largest investors, have bolstered Thread’s progress, providing tremendous customer, partner, and public support.
Thread continues to expand its workforce to more than 50 industry experts, including a leadership team wielding market-proven expertise and critical technologies required to deliver Thread’s powerful solution. Thread will use the Series A funds to expand its technology into other market sectors, continuing to expand the breadth of digitization of critical infrastructure assets through push-button robotic inspections.
About Thread: Thread, formerly Airtonomy, is the leading data solution for enterprises looking to streamline and transform critical infrastructure lifecycle management. Leveraging its proprietary, data-driven, and robust platform technology, Thread embeds unmanned aerial systems and robotics with a suite of applications to automate Enterprise inspection workflows and to create the first inspection based digital asset catalog. Digital asset information becomes far more valuable to many stakeholders within the enterprise while also being easier and more efficient to maintain up-to-date information.
