Cotulla Holdings Co-Leads $3.7M Seed Round for Aviation-Focused Kilsar

Kilsar, a Virginia Beach-based company developing a platform for aviation maintenance and training, has successfully closed a $3.7 million seed funding round. The investment was co-led by Lightbank and New York-based Cotulla Holdings, with participation from Techstars and Lithuania’s Scalewolf. This funding marks a significant step forward in Kilsar’s mission to modernize the aviation maintenance training pipeline and tackle the industry’s workforce readiness challenges.

The company has announced a strategic partnership with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM), one of the nation’s largest aviation training institutions. This collaboration aims to leverage Kilsar’s AI-powered platform, Orion, to capture and scale the knowledge of retiring maintainers. Orion transforms complex maintenance procedures into interactive, step-by-step digital workflows, enabling faster upskilling for new learners and active maintainers alike.

Brendan Lawlor, founder and CEO of Kilsar, emphasized the importance of preserving the expertise of veteran technicians. With a background in AI and data analytics, Lawlor is steering the company towards addressing the dual-use potential of its technologies for both defense and commercial sectors. The aviation maintenance sector faces a critical shortage of skilled technicians, compounded by declining interest in trades among students and the aging out of experienced professionals.

The seed funding will enable Kilsar to expand its engineering and deployment teams, accelerate the onboarding process across defense and commercial maintenance organizations, and further develop Orion’s real-time AI assistant. This assistant aims to replace traditional static manuals with searchable, enriched content, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and precision in the field.

Cotulla Holdings, making its first venture investment in Kilsar, brings a wealth of experience from the air transportation sector through its founder, Jared L. Solomon. This investment underscores the growing recognition of the need for innovative solutions to the challenges facing the aviation maintenance industry. Kilsar’s approach not only promises to bridge the knowledge gap but also to ensure the readiness of the next generation of aviation technicians.

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