Munich Startup: What does Caurus do? What problem are you solving?
Caurus Technologies: Caurus Technologies develops a modular system for fighting forest fires from the air that combines digital technology with innovative firefighting approaches. The goals are increased drop precision and thus more efficient water use, as well as improved safety for emergency personnel and reduced CO2 emissions.
The system comprises two elements: a sensor platform with software for capturing and evaluating ground, fire, and water deployment data, as well as a dispersion extinguishing module based on an aerosol-water cloud. The data enables more precise dropping of firefighting water during deployment, while simultaneously measuring the extinguishing effect. The aerosol-water cloud has the potential to extinguish fires up to ten times more effectively from a physical standpoint.
The Caurus sensor is already being used in test flights during fire safety exercises and commercial external load flights. The dispersion extinguishing system is still in the laboratory stage. We are currently focusing our resources on bringing the Caurus sensor and its underlying AI to full market maturity so we can produce a pre-series.
Gap in the system: What Caurus does better than drones and satellites
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Caurus Technologies: Indeed, there are many innovations aimed at improving forest fire suppression through data. For example, drones and satellites that collect data and transmit it to fire incident commanders, who can use it to make deployment decisions.
However, forest fire operations are complex processes that require coordination of various emergency services. In addition to ground personnel, firefighting aircraft or helicopters often participate. And as soon as helicopters are flying with firefighting agent containers, drones can no longer be operating in the same area to eliminate collision risk. At the same time, satellites – at very high costs – only provide images every two to three hours, not in real time. And ultimately, neither satellites nor drones carry firefighting agents with them. This means there are always interfaces required and valuable time is lost before firefighting can begin.
This is where the Caurus system fills an essential gap for deployment success. The Caurus sensor can be quickly and easily suspended between the helicopter and the firefighting agent container. From there, it sends near real-time images of the current fire situation as well as the actions of the firefighting agent container below the aircraft, such as water release. Crucially, it not only generates images, but also measures the effect of water on the fire on the ground. This allows an incident commander to really assess whether it’s safe to send ground personnel or whether further air operations must be conducted first. This optimizes the use of all existing resources and also increases the safety of emergency personnel.
And as our next step, we plan to further develop the system with a water container that can be dropped and extinguish the fire at or above the fire site using an aerosol-water cloud. This doesn’t exist yet.
From vacation experience to innovation
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Caurus Technologies: The company was founded in 2022 by a team of engineers, managers, and financial experts from aerospace, defense technology, business development, and finance.
The idea for the innovative integrated system for fighting forest fires from the air came from a personal experience during a vacation in southern France. Caurus Technologies CEO Philippe Telle observed how helicopters were repeatedly dropping their water loads above the forest fires raging near his vacation spot, seemingly with no visible effect. Philippe then asked himself whether there might be more effective firefighting methods: closer to the fire source, where extinguishing would be most effective. Improving deployment precision and increasing safety for personnel in the air and on the ground also played an essential role. After many expert interviews, the idea emerged to digitize the firefighting process, to give water digital “eyes,” and to develop a different form of water delivery from the air.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Caurus Technologies: Like any technology, you start with a vision that seems relatively obvious. The devil is in the details, whether in procuring and testing the right equipment or in developing the analysis software. Currently, we’re focusing on training the AI to evaluate and analyze images produced by the HD and IR cameras. We knew that AI development would be demanding and would require collecting large amounts of data during many flight hours. We need to train the AI behind the software to precisely recognize what’s happening on the ground beneath the helicopter. So we need to find many flight partners and work here and there on improving the software.
And of course, we continue to need capital, users, and technical cooperation partners with whom we can develop the next phases.
Vision for the future: Market leader in forest fire protection
Munich Startup: Where do you want to stand in one year, and in five years?
Caurus Technologies: We want to be the leading provider for customers in both the private and public sectors who are involved in protecting forests from the air. This includes disaster management, forest owners, or insurers interested in a system that can protect valuable forest stands while avoiding CO2 emissions and economic losses. Climate extremes, drought, and thus water scarcity are increasing worldwide. It’s time for innovation in firefighting technology. And of course, there are also opportunities to use the sensor and its software to improve precision in other helicopter external load operations. Or even to deploy it on unmanned carrier systems or aircraft.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Caurus Technologies: The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for disaster management, has been investing in air support solutions for firefighting for some time now, particularly for regions that are difficult to access and at risk of fire. We quickly found an open ear for our ideas here. The ministry works closely with the State Fire Service Schools, such as the one in Würzburg. They organize training and use equipment relevant to our specialty. Both organizations are very open to innovation and interested in solutions that make forest fire suppression more effective and safer. We received a lot of support and feedback here.
In general, Bavaria and Munich have a great startup environment with organizations and authorities that actively promote platforms and forums for networking and bringing together new technologies and investors. And of course, access to knowledge, research, and cooperation at universities and research institutes as well as their accelerators. For example, TUM with its Aerospace Lab or the Fraunhofer Institute with its Ahead program for young startups. Munich and Bavaria are, so to speak, the launching pad from which we hope to find partners beyond Bavaria who are willing to tackle a global challenge with our technology and digitalization approach.
Long-term mission
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long-term commitment?
Caurus Technologies: We’re a technology startup, which means by nature we need development time to implement and develop the complex and technologically demanding modules. And the topic of forest fires will likely occupy us more rather than less in the long term, the more drought and heat result from climate change. The danger that forest fires will increase and fires will rage more fiercely is very real and is documented by many studies worldwide. However, it’s currently still discussed little in public, considering its damage potential. For example, who knows that the carbon dioxide emissions from forest fires are almost as high as those from the entire transportation sector? We must therefore be prepared for this issue to concern us for a very long time. And we need to raise awareness about it in broad circles. Therefore: long-term commitment!
