Getting users airborne in one day

With their creative approaches to the use of emerging technologies, startups bring dynamic new energy to the industry and play a crucial role in shaping its future. At GIM International, we are keen to spotlight such pioneering geospatial companies. This time, our focus is on Aispeco, a manufacturer pushing the boundaries of geospatial data collection with its advanced platforms. How did it take its first steps in the industry? Which obstacles were overcome? And how does the company strike a balance between business and innovation? These insights into real-world experiences and perspectives can provide inspiration and guidance for other aspiring geospatial entrepreneurs looking to make an impact. Here, Mantas Vaskela, CEO of Aispeco, shares his company's startup journey with us.

Tell us more about your company and how it came about.

Aispeco is a manufacturer of advanced geospatial data collection platforms, founded in 2020. Our company’s multi-sensor systems can be installed on airborne, mobile and stationary platforms and combine laser scanning (Lidar), spectral (hyperspectral) and other imaging capabilities. We serve clients worldwide, including utility providers, forestry, urban mapping, mining, civil engineering companies and many other sectors. Our hardware solutions help clients reduce sensor costs, operate more efficiently, and easily adjust sensor configurations and data-collection methods.

As a newcomer in the geospatial industry, what were your initial steps?

First, we needed to validate our solution to the problem. We were our own client and developed certain technologies – integrated sensor controllers – to enable faster flights, accommodate more sensors, and operate on lighter helicopters. However, without market validation, you are nothing; you don’t know whether you are more or less efficient than existing solutions. So, we started with customer validation.

Which challenges did you face in the early years, and how did you solve them?

Moving from homegrown technology for internal use to a market-ready solution is a challenging step. Customers will always find ways to break things, and what seems trivial to your operators – who are familiar with Linux – may be completely foreign to a customer who has never used a command-line interface. This required a transformation, which we achieved by adopting a customer-centric mindset. You can ask our customers: they’ll tell you that Aispeco often does the impossible. Repair equipment within 24 hours? We’ve done it. Send technicians halfway around the world? Check. The truth is, by genuinely caring for your customers and focusing on solving their problems, you can overcome process-related and technological limitations. As long as your solutions work and people enjoy working with you, they will trust you. That trust becomes the foundation for building a stronger business. This approach helped us navigate our early years. Today, we differentiate ourselves not just with technological advancements, but with capabilities that our competitors simply cannot match – delivering even greater value to our customers.

How did you strike the right balance between the entrepreneurial side and the technological innovation side of the business?

Technological innovation takes time and resources – both of which entrepreneurs often don’t have enough of to do everything they want. The ‘sell, innovate, sell again’ cycle is crucial. We need to understand the challenges our customers face and what they are willing to pay for. This industry also has long sales cycles, meaning we can’t always rely on solutions that have been tested for years. When we start a conversation with a customer, we know that the technology itself will evolve throughout that conversation. However, it’s critical not to oversell. Nothing is more dangerous than delivering a half-baked solution. That can be costly, both in reputation and in the sheer amount of resources needed to fix it and keep the customer satisfied. That’s why our priority remains clear: the customer is at the centre of everything we do. If a customer feels we’ve oversold, then we have – and we must address it. We don’t get caught up in contractual language; instead, we focus on keeping our customers’ systems in the sky, collecting data – because when they succeed, we succeed.

We are witnessing tremendous growth in the use of geospatial information to solve many different problems. How is this benefiting your company?

We see the market growing, and quickly. Each year, 30-40% of our customers are new to the aerial industry. Some come from drone companies expanding into larger projects, while others transition from academia, aviation and other fields. One of our core principles is making geospatial easy. There is enormous potential in spatial data, but the industry must evolve beyond being a super-specialized field where seasoned experts manipulate complex datasets. While high-tech scientific applications will always exist, the industry also needs to attract startups and new ventures capable of large-scale data collection. We see strong growth in sectors like utilities, mineral exploration, academia, building information modelling (BIM) and more. These industries are increasingly relying on drone data, only to quickly encounter its limitations. Beyond ten square miles, the economics of airplanes far outperform drones. However, a major barrier remains: traditional aerial systems are slow, cumbersome and require extensive training. We are changing that. Our systems are designed for users who want to be airborne in one day, not two months, and we see rapid growth in this segment.

The geospatial industry is characterized by a steady stream of fast-paced technological advancements. How are these driving your company forward?

It’s honestly difficult to keep track most days, but we’re happy that our customers are the ones driving us forward. One customer needs a topobathy system on a gimbal, another requires a system that operates in extremely low temperatures, and someone else is searching for minerals in Africa using spectral sensors. Every time we receive a request, we almost always have to revisit sensor research. New technologies are emerging every day, and challenges that seemed impossible a few years ago are now either within reach or fully achievable.

What are the dos and don’ts for startups looking to make a difference in the geospatial industry?

Don’t copy. Seriously. Every time a hot topic emerges, there are always a few companies that came up with the idea and truly understand why it’s being done, and then there are the copycats. Customers in this field are knowledgeable, so you won’t be able to just wing it. You need to find a problem you genuinely care about and solve it, rather than simply jumping on the next big thing.

Are there any other thoughts you would like to share?

This is a small industry, in the best possible way. We’ve found that while people may seem cautious at first, over time you build a vast network of friends and meet all kinds of interesting people. Make the most of it!

About Mantas Vaskela

Mantas Vaskela has over a decade of corporate leadership experience and brings a wealth of expertise in driving organizational success through strategic process optimization and innovation management. As the CEO of Aispeco, a company that manufactures advanced geospatial data collection platforms for planes, helicopters, drones and other vehicles, he is dedicated to revolutionizing the mapping technology landscape with highly customizable hardware solutions that help clients reduce overhead costs, streamline surveying and inspection operations, and easily adapt sensor configurations and data collection methods.

To learn more on Aispeco, visit the company's website