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$3.2B.
Unattended.
Ours to take.
The autonomous inspection market in oil-and-gas infrastructure has no dominant software-hardware platform. Yet.

Market Context

Autonomous inspection TAM expanding at 19% CAGR through 2030

Right to Win

47
Existing Operator Relationships
Sensor integration deployed with 47 upstream operators
2
Patent Claims Pending
Proprietary obstacle-avoidance firmware (patent pending)
1.4M
Footage-Hours Dataset
14 years of inspection data — irreplaceable training corpus
Signed Jan 2025
Meridian Energy Services
Exclusive distribution partnership with 47-operator footprint

Build vs Buy vs Partner

Criterion Build Acquire (Drone360) Partner (AeroView)
Time to Market 18 months 12 months 6 months
Total Investment $14.5M $28M+ $2.1M
IP Ownership Full IP Partial None
Dependency Risk None Integration High
Revenue Control 100% margin 100% 40% rev share
Board Recommendation: Build

Investment Thesis

Platform Economics
Inspection data is recurring — annual contract value compounds with calibration lock-in
Switching Cost
Calibrated models are irreplaceable once operator workflows integrate our anomaly detection
Regulatory Tailwind
API RP 1173 mandates inspection documentation upgrades by 2027
5-year revenue model (annual)
Projected TrellisVision revenue if we wait 18 months
$0.0
Drone360 closes their Series B in Q3.
That is the clock.

Execution Plan

Q1 2025
Team Build
8 hires
$1.8M
Q2 2025
Prototype
Hardware + SW
$3.2M
Q3 2025
Alpha
Pioneer, 4 sites
$2.1M
Q4 2025
Beta
12 operators
$3.6M
Q1 2026
GA Launch
Full release
$2.4M
2026
Scale
Self-funded
+Revenue

Financial Model

Investment cadence vs ARR contribution — payback Q2 2026

Risk Register

HIGH IMPACT / HIGH PROBABILITY
Drone360 acquires distribution partner
If they lock up Meridian, our go-to-market compresses
Mitigant:
Accelerate Meridian exclusivity clause negotiations — target signed by Feb 2025
MEDIUM IMPACT / MEDIUM PROBABILITY
API RP 1173 regulatory delay
2027 mandate pushes to 2028+, softening urgency
Mitigant:
Build for early adopters who self-mandate higher safety standards regardless of timeline
MEDIUM IMPACT / HIGH PROBABILITY
Key-hire failure in robotics engineering
Rania Suleiman or equivalent declines; timeline slips
Mitigant:
Retainer with Kestrel Talent; two backup candidates already identified and warm
LOW IMPACT / MEDIUM PROBABILITY
Cost overrun in prototype phase
Fabrication costs exceed $3.2M budget
Mitigant:
Fixed-price contract with ZeroG Systems — no change orders without board approval

12-Month Gates

Prototype Complete
Q2 2025 delivery milestone
4 Alpha Sites Live
Pioneer Natural Resources deployment
$800K Pilot ARR
Q4 2025 revenue confirmation

36-Month Gates

$14.2M ARR
Year 3 revenue target
68%+ Gross Margin
Platform economics validated
3 Patents Granted
IP moat established
If we miss the 12-month gate, we bring a go/no-go decision back to the board.

Team

Initiative Sponsor
Marcus Idowu
VP Product, Trellis Robotics
12 years robotics experience, former principal engineer at Boston Dynamics
Head of Engineering
Rania Suleiman
Target hire — offer extended
Autonomous systems architect, 9 years defense/commercial robotics, MS Robotics Stanford
Head of Sales
Glen Frasier
Target hire — interviewing
15 years enterprise energy sales, former VP Sales at Schlumberger, $47M quota carrier
External Advisor
Dr. Yuki Tanaka
Advisory agreement signed
Professor of Robotics, Caltech; 37 patents in autonomous navigation and sensor fusion
The Ask
Approve $14.5M TrellisVision
capital allocation
Timeline to First Revenue
Q3 2025
(Alpha deployment)
Go/No-Go Checkpoint
Q1 2026
(12-month gate review)
Initiative Sponsor
CEO Rachel Obi