“Business founders often go in search of a problem to solve, but in this case, the problem found me,” says Drew Hanover, who launched the Swiss start-up AVIAN two years ago. Prior to the launch, Hanover was working on his PhD and published research into the role of thermal imaging in fire prevention; that prompted a call from Ernest Schilliger, the CEO of sawmill business Schilliger Holz, who wondered whether Hanover could help him confront a major risk in the industry.

A few years previously, Schilliger Holz had suffered a catastrophic fire, almost completely destroying one of its facilities. Such fires are a constant threat in the sawmill industry, which continuously produces fine dust that is highly flammable; fires often start inside machines or in out-of-the-way corners and can get out of control before they’re even detected. Schilliger thought Hanover could help him reduce the risk of another catastrophe.

AVIAN, which is today announcing its first capital raise, a $2.6 million pre-seed round, grew out of that conversation. “Fires in this business are a disaster for so many people,” Hanover says. “Companies can lose their entire production facilities; employees lose their jobs because customers’ orders can’t be met; there’s a risk of serious environmental damage.”

AVIAN therefore hopes to make such disasters a thing of the past in the sawmill sector, and in other high-risk industries, including mining, chemical processing, oil and gas, and maritime. It has developed an early-warning system, using highly sensitive thermal cameras that constantly monitor the machines in use in customers’ facilities. As soon as the cameras detect any kind of suspicious increase in temperatures, they alert operators to the potential problem so they can intervene before a fire occurs. A separate camera monitors each machine or area considered to be at risk.

Importantly, each AVIAN system is linked to the company’s own technology platform, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to learn from the data produced in facilities; that ensures the system is better able to distinguish between real fire risks and harmless temperature fluctuations to avoid false alarms. The system can also detect when a piece of machinery is consistently generating more heat than usual, potentially indicating that a part is getting worn; this predictive maintenance feature means owners can intervene before the machinery breaks down.

“Our cameras see heat and they collect data to build a clear picture of what’s normal and what’s not,” adds Hanover. “The first priority is fire prevention, but by helping business owners to schedule maintenance and reduce downtime, we can also turn what is normally regarded as a cost center into something that drives value.”

For Schilliger Holz, which became AVIAN’s first customer, the cameras are a huge improvement on the safety system that went before. “They help us make our operations much safer and improve the monitoring process,” says Schilliger. “You will never be able to reduce the risk of fires to zero, but you can do everything you can to minimize the danger as much as possible – and AVIAN makes that possible in a simple and straightforward way.”

Other customers have also come onboard, with AVIAN’s cameras now installed in 50 sites across nine countries. The company reckons it has helped to prevent around $50 million worth of fire damage. It’s also helping companies to negotiate better deals from their insurers, for which the risk of having to pay out is now reduced. One customer, Kamps Pallet, reduced its annual insurance costs by 10% at its Dillwyn sawmill after deploying AVIAN’s system.

Hanover believes the company is now in a position to scale rapidly, pointing to the potential value of his technology in multiple industries worldwide – hence today’s fundraising, led by Swiss pre-seed fund Founderful. "We bootstrapped the business for two years because we wanted to build something operators actually trusted,” explains Hanover. “We raised with Founderful for one reason: to keep doing that, in more markets, faster, without changing what we are.”

Alex Stöckl, a partner at Founderful, says the company’s early traction with customers suggests there is a huge opportunity. “Within a year of incorporation, the team at AVIAN already served dozens of manufacturing businesses in the US and Europe, preventing real fire incidents on a daily basis,” he says. “With their thermal-vision technology, there's an immediate return on investment and a new industrial intelligence layer that unlocks further use cases and value for customers over time.”