Talking AI driven materials discovery with Team Altrove

Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous with Thibaud Martin, CEO & Cofounder of Altrove (center), and Joonatan Laulainen (right), CTO & Cofounder, at the company's laboratory in Paris, France. 

Coming up with new materials in the laboratory isn't new. The material science community has been at it for nearly a century and found new materials with their use cases oftentimes by accident or sometimes by design. But in an age in which the West's concerns over secure access to rare earths is rising, the "design" aspect of material science has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to AI. 

The fine craft of AI driven materials discovery - a growing field either side of the Atlantic - is in near step with growing geopolitical uncertainties and anxieties over critical materials access that much of the digital world has come to rely. 

In recent years, the Oilholic has counted nearly two dozen startups attempting it, primarily in Europe and North America - the two continents where the need is likely to be the greatest as China lords it over its rare earth resources. Many are upscaling following recent seed funding rounds. Among them is Paris, France-based Altrove whose lab this blogger visited recently to catch up with its CEO and Cofounder Thibaud Martin.

"We believe our startup is on an exciting journey because we exist in a market that's growing out of commercial, geopolitical and environmental necessities - three very powerful motivators. Security of resource materials supply is critical to business and industry," Martin told this blogger while taking him around the startup's lab in a Parisian suburb. 

And Joonatan Laulainen, CTO and Cofouncer of Altrove, who joined Martin and The Oilholic on the lab floor, noted: "We believe ours is a race to have scalable technology in place that ensures that our AI-designed materials consume the resources we want them to consume, without dependence on other nations' resources. We are quietly and confidently proving to investors that we're on our way there. 

“Ultimately, our AI acts as a digital scientist, one that designs and executes experiments without human intervention. So, we can develop new materials faster, cheaper and at the scale industry requires.”  

Martin, Laulainen and their team of over a dozen international colleagues, believe the difference would be reducing a typical time frame of 20 years for conjuring up a new material (and taking it to production) to under two years. 

There's plenty of market chatter about similar levels of ambition across the AI driven materials discovery space. Martin discussed the segment's business and market potential in an interview with yours truly for Forbes earlier this month, which you can have a read here should you wish. 

For its efforts, Altrove has commendably secured "over a dozen partnerships" with companies across several industries to deploy AI-designed materials at scale. Some of its first-of-a-kind technical milestones include - rare-earth-free, cobalt-free magnetic materials for high-performance motors and non-toxic, lead-free compounds for sensors and actuators.

Martin declined to reveal the names of the companies Altrove is partnering with at this stage. But in the spirit of demonstrating its credentials and proving that its AI works, both the CEO and CTO offered this blogger an off record tour of their lab, its inner workings and insight on how upscaling their tech would fall into place. 

As things stand, Team Altrove appears to be well prepared for the hard slog in this competitive sphere, as interest from seed investors continues to grow across this segment. The company has $14 million to work with for now, $10 million of which was raised in a recent seed funding round led by Alven, an independent venture capital firm that's backed over 130 startups over the last two decades. 

The Oilholic wishes Team Altrove all the very best in their efforts. And overall, it looks to be an exciting industry in its nascent stages, with companies and technologies well worth keeping an eye out for. That's all for the moment folks. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous, with Thibaud Martin, CEO & Cofounder (center), and Joonatan Laulainen (right), CTO & Cofounder, of Altrove at the company's laboratory in Paris, France. 

Exploring Elysian Aircraft's electric E9X plane concept

(Left to right: Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous, Reynard De Vries, Chief Engineer, Elysian Aircraft and Rob Wolleswinkel, Co-CEO and Chief Technology Officer, Elysian Aircraft) 

Earlier this month, The Oilholic headed out to Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, where in the shadow of one of the world's busiest transport hub - Schiphol Airport - startup Elysian Aircraft is attempting something rather unique. 

The company is aiming to build a narrow-body electric plane - something very few, if any, of its peers are having a crack at. In fact, up until the visit, this blogger had only encountered four to 20-seater zero air mobility concepts around the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) and electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) spheres. 

But Elysian's concept plane called the E9X will be capable of carrying 90 passengers over 500 miles on a single charge. The projected capacity is around half that of the airline industry's short-haul work-horses Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A320. It would have a decent chance of success in an industry that appears desperate to lower its carbon footprint. 

To discuss the E9X's potential, pitfalls, development trajectory and taking it to market, The Oilholic sat down for both an off-record as well as on-record analyst's briefing with Elysian's co-founders Daniel Rosen Jacobson (Co-CEO), Reynard De Vries (Chief Engineer) and Rob Wolleswinkel (Co-CEO and chief technology officer) as well as four other members of the now 30-strong team. 

Based on the on-record exchanges with the team, here is the Oilholic's recent feature on Elysian for Forbes. As for the off-record discussions, the plane's proof of concept does stand up to independent scrutiny is all this blogger can say at present, something the startup itself has been working tirelessly on. 

A paper co-authored by De Vries and Wolleswinkel, and two others, published by the Delft University of Technology, is well worth a read too in this context, if you wish to. 

Furthermore, Wolleswinkel told this blogger that his colleagues are under no illusion about the magnitude of the task ahead, but have the courage of their convictions to make it happen in an emerging electric aircraft segment that is littered with more failures than signs of tangible successes.

The company's Series A funding is likely to close by the end of the current quarter, according to Jacobson, who added that it was all about taking "phased but assured steps forward" with patient capital investments. 

It remains a tough landscape of carbon-neutral air travel solutions. Therefore, it remains to be seen how it will go for this electric aviation startup. As things stand, the E9X prototype is expected in 2030, and a service entry by 2033. The Oilholic wishes Team Elysian Aircraft well and will now keep a very keen eye out for their progress. 

With those final thoughts, its time to take your leave. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma with Elysian Aircraft's co-founders. Photo II: Elysian Aircraft's E9X conceptual image. © Elysian Aircraft, July 2025. 

Checking out Vaeridion's electric 'microliner' concept

(Left to right: Ivor van Dartel, Founder and CEO of Vaeridion, Markus Kochs-Kämper, CTO of Vaeridion, and Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous, at the startup's laboratory and engineering site in the Bosch Innovation Campus in Holzkirchen, Germany)

Late last month, the Oilholic headed out to the Bosch Innovation Campus in Holzkirchen, Germany, some 25 miles south of Munich, for a visit to green aviation startup Vaeridion's laboratory and engineering test site of its 'microliner' electric plane concept. 

The company is aiming to make to carbon-neutral electric powered flights the norm for short-haul travel; a niche but lucrative regional market currently serviced in many parts of the world by an ageing conventional fleet of aircraft.

Vaeridion's bold idea is a nine-seater electric plane with a range of 400km, deemed more than sufficient for short hops in a number of regional markets in Europe and beyond. Although the startup's founder and CEO Ivor van Dartel told yours truly his initial focus would be on Northern Europe (BeNeLux, the Nordics and Germany).

And what is it that van Dartel and the good folks at Vaeridion are attempting to put in the air dear readers? The Oilholic would say its brilliant, yet simple and here's how it goes. The electric power train would be supported by rechargeable high voltage batteries integrated in the plane's wing. 

The plane itself will run on a single propeller, but with multi-engine support of two mechanically and electrically segregated motors. 

The microliner will have a dual flight deck and can be operated by a single pilot. And unlike some in the sphere, Vaeridion's solution would be 100% electric. (See right, click to enlarge concept illustration.)

The idea has solid wings - no pun intended. Here's the Oilholic's recent feature on the startup for Forbes, wherein van Dartel has discussed his business plans for taking Vaeridion's microliner to market.

In a nutshell, test flights of the prototype are scheduled for 2027, and first delivery of the aircraft by 2030, with an ambition to produce and move up to 250 planes per year by / before the middle of the next decade.

To support this ambition, Vaeridion's has raised €14 million (£11.75 million, $15.20 million) in a recent funding round involving multiple prominent venture capital funds. They include World Fund and Vsquared Ventures, whose founding partner the Oilholic had the pleasure of meeting in Munich, and was revealed to be the startup's very first backer. 

The investors appear to be in it for the whole journey and Vaeridion is in talks to secure further capital. Especially, as van Dartel and his team are working on a green air mobility solution that will likely be among us by the end of the decade to fulfil a very specific potentially money making niche.

And when the Vaeridion microliner finally takes off, it would be the culmination of a long-held professional ambition of van Dartel's, who is a former Airbus engineer. "Electric air mobility has been on my mind since 2007, when sustainability wasn't even mainstream as it is today. The concept remained close to my heart and the spark stayed with me throughout my professional journey at Airbus."

In over a decade of service at the global aircraft manufacturer, van Dartel worked on Airbus' A380, A350 models, operations, manufacturing, special projects and ultimately became a generalist in 2017, before moving on to its defence and aerospace division in 2019.

Ultimately, he left Airbus in 2021 with the flame rekindled, armed with over 10 years of experience in complex projects, to launch Vaeridion. Today his 50-strong, and rapidly growing, team boasts of fellow dreamers from nearly 20 nationalities, some of whom joined his startup when it had no money or secured funding. 

Vaeridion appears to be on the cusp of making a difference, and attempting something that won't be easy by any means in an evolving, tough landscape of carbon-neutral air travel solutions. It remains to be seen how it will go for this aviation startup, but the Oilholic wishes Team Vaeridion well. 

With those final thoughts, its time to take your leave. More musings to follow soon - next stop Houston, for CERAWeek. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: (Left to right) Ivor van Dartel, Founder and CEO of Vaeridion, Markus Kochs-Kämper, CTO of Vaeridion, and Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, Oilholics Synonymous, at the startup's laboratory and engineering site in the Bosch Innovation Campus in Holzkirchen, Germany. © Gaurav Sharma, February 2025. Photo II: Vaeridion's microliner electric aircraft concept. © Vaeridion, December 2024.