Leosphere

What Leosphere does

Leosphere is a French optoelectronic device manufacturer founded in 2004 in Orsay, France, specializing in wind LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology for the wind energy industry. The company develops the WindCube family of LiDAR systems, including vertical profiling LiDARs (bankable for wind resource assessment), 360-degree scanning LiDARs, ruggedized offshore variants for buoy deployment, and nacelle-mounted LiDARs for turbine control and Power Performance Testing. Leosphere's products are commercialized through Vaisala's wind energy business and integrate with the WindCube Insights cloud platform and Vaisala Compass weather intelligence software, along with patented add-ons such as Flow Complexity Recognition (FCR), Availability Booster, and WindCube Pure TI for turbulence intensity accuracy.

Leosphere serves enterprise customers across the wind energy value chain: wind farm developers (site prospection, WRA, repowering), wind farm operators (permanent monitoring, O&M, forecasting), and turbine manufacturers (Lidar Assisted Control, prototyping). The company monetizes through hardware sales of WindCube LiDAR systems, recurring software subscriptions for fleet management and weather intelligence, professional services for deployment and consulting, and data/forecasting services. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales executed primarily through Vaisala's global distribution network of 30 offices in 18 countries serving 150+ countries, with named customers including RWE, RES, EDF Renewables, Mainstream Renewable Power, Nordex, and Green Power Investment.

Name

Leosphere

Legal name

Vaisala Oyj

Website

https://leosphere.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1936

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Leosphere is a French optoelectronics firm founded in 2004 that manufactures WindCube LiDAR systems for wind measurement, serving wind farm developers, operators, and turbine manufacturers globally via Vaisala's distribution network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wind LiDAR and Atmospheric Sensing Instruments

SIC

Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro primary industry

LiDAR & 3D Sensing Modules (HDAHALAG)

Keywords

• LiDAR wind measurement
• Atmospheric sensing devices
• Wind resource assessment
• Optoelectronic instrumentation
• Remote sensing lidar

Headquarters

HQ city

Orsay

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. LiDAR Hardware and Sensors: Sale of WindCube lidar systems including vertical profiling, scan, offshore, and nacelle variants. Hardware includes ultrasonic wind sensors like WM80 and visibility sensors.
2. Software and Analytics Services: Cloud-based software solutions including WindCube Insights fleet management and Vaisala Compass weather intelligence platform.
3. Data and Forecasting Services: Lightning data solutions, historical wind resource data, regional wind energy forecasts, and weather nowcasting services.
4. Professional Services and Consulting: Technical consulting, support services, and deployment support for wind measurement campaigns and offshore operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Leosphere manufactures complex optoelectronic devices, principally the WindCube family of LiDAR systems used for atmospheric and wind measurement. Its products support wind resource assessment, Power Performance Testing (PPT), and continuous wind farm monitoring for wind developers, operators, and turbine manufacturers, with variants for onshore, offshore, and nacelle-mounted deployment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• WindCube: Industry's most trusted, bankable, and widely-deployed vertical profiling lidar for wind energy measurement
• WindCube Scan
• WindCube Offshore
• WindCube Nacelle
• WindCube Insights
• Vaisala Compass
• Vaisala Ultrasonic Wind Sensor WM80
• Xweather Protect
• WindCube Pure TI

Products and services

• WindCube Vertical Profiling Lidar Industry's most trusted, bankable, and widely-deployed vertical profiling LiDAR used for wind resource assessment and Power Performance Testing in onshore wind farms. Designed for wind farm developers, operators, and consultants requiring IEC-compliant bankable data.
• WindCube Scan Scanning LiDAR providing full 360-degree wind awareness for diverse applications including complex terrain assessment and offshore wind resource campaigns. Used by wind farm developers and operators for advanced measurement requirements.
• WindCube Offshore Offshore-ruggedized vertical profiling LiDAR designed for buoy and harsh marine deployments to support offshore wind measurement campaigns. Targeted at offshore wind farm developers and operators.
• WindCube Nacelle Nacelle-mounted LiDAR enabling Lidar Assisted Control (LAC) feedforward turbine control, new turbine prototyping, and Power Performance Testing. Built for turbine manufacturers and operators seeking turbine optimization.
• WindCube Insights Cloud-based fleet management software for WindCube LiDAR fleets, providing full visibility, management, and IEC-compliant Power Performance Testing for WindCube Nacelle.
• Vaisala Compass Cloud-based weather intelligence platform for renewable energy that aggregates and analyzes WindCube and solar station data to deliver actionable forecasting and operational insights.
• Vaisala Ultrasonic Wind Sensor WM80 Ultrasonic wind sensor delivering world-class wind measurements for demanding onshore and offshore conditions, complementing the LiDAR product family.

Quantifiable outcome

• WindCube 2.1 XP extends accurate measurements up to 400 meters above ground for modern wind farms
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Kjeller VindteknikkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVaisala partnered with Kjeller Vindteknikk in webinar presentations demonstrating Availability Booster for WindCube and WindCube Pure TI in Compass Renewable, indicating technical collaboration for enhanced wind measurement solutions.
• NordexcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNordex collaborated with Vaisala and Kjeller Vindteknikk in webinar demonstrating Availability Booster for WindCube and WindCube Pure TI, indicating integration and validation of LiDAR technology with turbine systems.
• Deutsche WindGuardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeutsche WindGuard experts co-presented with Vaisala in eBook 'How lidar is becoming standard for Wind Resource Assessment', indicating industry thought leadership collaboration.
• XweathercoreTechnology or IntegrationXweather provides cross-linked weather services including real-time severe weather monitoring, lightning alerts, historical wind resource data, and regional energy forecasts accessible through Vaisala platform.
• Floating Lidar System (FLS) IntegratorscoreTechnology or IntegrationVaisala partners with industry-leading FLS integrators to provide WindCube Offshore technology, service and support for floating lidar deployments in offshore wind applications.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ZX Lidars: UK-based manufacturer of vertical-profiling wind LiDAR systems directly competing with WindCube in wind resource assessment and IEC-compliant Power Performance Testing for onshore and offshore wind sites.
• Halo Photonics: UK-based maker of continuous-wave and pulsed Doppler wind LiDARs serving wind energy, atmospheric research, and aviation — a head-to-head competitor to Leosphere in wind measurement campaigns.
• Gill Instruments: Manufacturer of high-accuracy ultrasonic wind sensors (e.g., WindSonic, WindObserver) used alongside or in competition with LiDAR systems at wind measurement stations and offshore platforms.

Broad incumbents

• NRG Systems: Long-established supplier of wind measurement instruments (anemometers, sodar, LiDAR) to the wind energy industry with broad installed base across developers, operators, and consultancies.
• DTN (Meteorology division): Provider of weather data and forecasting services to renewables including wind energy forecasting and resource data — overlapping with Vaisala Compass/Xweather segment that monetizes Leosphere's installed base.

Regional players

• AQ-System: Swedish wind measurement specialist offering remote sensing (LiDAR/sodar) and wind resource assessment services across the Nordics and broader European markets — comparable in offering and customer type.

Others

• Second Wind (Vaisala subsidiary): Sodar-based wind measurement offering now integrated within Vaisala; overlaps with Leosphere's remote-sensing portfolio for atmospheric boundary layer and wind resource measurement.
• DEKRA Wind Test (LaTriNet / Deutsche WindGuard): German wind measurement consultancy that operates LiDAR campaigns and collaborates with LiDAR OEMs in wind resource assessment and Power Performance Testing — adjacent services ecosystem to Leosphere.
• Ocean Winds: Major offshore wind developer (EDPR-Engie JV) that procures floating LiDAR and met-ocean sensing for offshore wind farm siting; a representative customer-tier peer rather than product competitor.

Emerging players

• Windar Photonics: Spanish/Danish nacelle-mounted LiDAR developer for Lidar-Assisted Control on wind turbines; a more specialized competitor targeting the same nacelle-LiDAR opportunity as WindCube Nacelle.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vaisala
• Xx.com/Leosphere_Lidar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leosphere