Destinus Group has announced its acquisition of Daedalean, an aviation AI solution company, for CHF 180 million ($225 million) in a combined cash-and-stock transaction.

Daedalean, Assaia, and Flybotix leverage advanced technologies to tackle challenges such as safety, efficiency, and sustainability in the aviation and aerospace sectors. The companies have recently signed new partnership deals, boosting their growth in Switzerland and Germany.In a new collaboration, the Swiss start-ups Xer Technologies and Daedalean are exploring safe and reliable ways to integrate drones into the airspace. To this end, flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) remains one of the biggest challenges in integrating drones into national airspace. While BVLOS operations offer new opportunities for inspection, search and rescue, emergency response, and more, the safety risks associated with drones operating in low-altitude airspace must be addressed. As part of their partnership, Xer and Daedalean AI will equip the hybrid-electric drone, Xer X8, with vision-based traffic detection and avoidance capabilities.With Daedalean’s Ailumina Vista system, the Xer X8 will be able to detect and identify nearby aerial traffic using externally mounted cameras, automatically execute avoidance maneuvers (demonstration planned for later this year) and enhance BVLOS safety, potentially paving the way for wider adoption. “Being able to detect and avoid aerial traffic will be a game-changer for drones that operate beyond visual line of sight,” stated Bas Gouverneur, CEO of Daedalean

Five startups in the fields of smart aviation, life sciences, AI-powered medtech and consumer experience announce new C-level appointments with experienced personalities whose startup and business acumen promise to bring success.TINAMU is a drone software provider, enabling drones to fly indoor autonomously without any need for a pilot to provide digital inventory data for bulk material, logistic and production excellence of bulk material supply chains. The startup serves customers across Europe and Switzerland and aims to broaden its operations worldwide. With this transition into the growth phase under way, the startup has appointed Thomas Götschmann as new CEO (Picture top left). Thomas, a 43-year-old serial entrepreneur and experienced company builder, started his career in Corporate Finance / at EY and Management Consulting at BCG. From 2019 to 2022, he successfully built global operations for Swiss startup Auterion, which provides a drone operating system. The ETH spin-off has so far been led by Tobias Nägeli, who comments: "Thomas is the ideal leader to accelerate TINAMU's growth strategy and foster the development of a scalable organization." Tobias will take over the /CPO role and focus on his passion to develop innovative products.Schlieren-based Athebio AG appoints new CEOBiotech startup Athebio, which develops custom-built designed ankyrin repeat proteins (i.e., Athebody DARPins) enabling drug developers to generate next-generation therapeutics, appointed Thomas Huber as new CEO (centre, top)