Aquila

Founded in 2022, Aquila is an Australian-American deep-tech company building wireless energy infrastructure — moving electricity by laser from where it is generated to where it is needed. Ground-based transmitters send power as light; receivers catch it using photovoltaics and convert it back, delivering energy to drones, satellites and remote infrastructure that cannot practically be plugged in. Aquila holds two world records in laser power transfer: the most power ever beamed to a drone in flight, and the longest sustained delivery — a 4kW beam that ran an autonomous ground robot for 24 hours unbroken, 25 kilometres travelled on light alone. The company's $3M AUD seed round was led by Blackbird Ventures alongside Possible Ventures, Icehouse Ventures and Startmate.