Drone startups account for a large slice of funding to the broader robotics and IoT landscape, and have received significant investment and press coverage in recent years.

We used the CB Insights platform to surface 15 notable, early-stage startups developing technologies related to unmanned aerial, marine, and/or land vehicles designed for unstructured environments. We selected these companies based on the recency and size of their disclosed funding and their Mosaic score, CB Insights’ algorithm that uses financial and non-financial signals to predict private company health.

Of the companies on our list, 10 are Series A startups that have raised funds since Q1’16 and 5 are seed or angel-stage companies that have raised funds in the last year. We have listed them in descending order of disclosed funding.

Series A Drone Companies to Watch

1. Skydio

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Disclosed Funding: $28M

Select Investors: Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz

Skydio makes smart drones that leverage computer vision and motion planning algorithms coupled with image sensors and processors in mobile phones.

2. Flirtey

Headquarters: Reno, Nevada

Disclosed Funding: $19.9M

Select Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures

Flirtey aims to develop last-mile drone delivery solutions that are safe, scalable, and cost effective.

3. Saildrone

Headquarters: Alameda, California

Disclosed Funding: $16.5M

Select Investors: Lux Capital, Social Capital

Saildrone aims to enable an open systematic view of the earth’s oceans and provide access to real-time data collected by a fleet of unmanned, autonomous sailing drones.

4. Neurala

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

Disclosed Funding: $15.9M

Select Investors: Draper Associates, NASA, Pelion Venture Partners, Sherpa Capital

Neurala creates software that makes robots, drones, and other IOT devices more autonomous and useful, and its Neurala Intelligence Engine (NIE) uses passive sensors (cameras and microphones) to make intelligent decisions.

5. DroneBase

Headquarters: Los Angeles, California

Disclosed Funding: $11.2M

Select Investors: Upfront Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator

DroneBase provides on-demand drone services that allow customers to prompt local drone pilots to capture imagery, video, maps, and analysis for projects such as construction and infrastructure management.

6. Flyability

Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

Disclosed Funding: $7.8M

Select Investors: Environmental Technologies Fund

Flyability is developing a collision-tolerant drone capable of remaining stable after contact. The company’s drones are mainly used for industrial inspection in the energy and transport infrastructure industries, as well as by first responders such as firefighters, police forces, and search and rescue professionals.

7. MATTERNET

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Disclosed Funding: $11.5M

Select Investors: Daimler, Andreessen Horowitz

MATTERNET is developing an automated delivery system built on a network of autonomously-operating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

8. Teal Drone

Headquarters: Murray, Utah

Disclosed Funding: $5.8M

Select Investors: Pelion Venture Partners

Teal is developing a consumer drone that reaches speeds of 70-80 MPH.

9. Fortem Technologies

Headquarters: Provo, Utah

Disclosed Funding: $5.5M

Select Investors: Data Collective, Signia Venture Partners

Fortem Technologies allows organizations to transition their unmanned aircraft operations beyond human line of sight as well as protect their resources from threats in the air.

10. Propeller

Headquarters: Eveleigh, Australia

Disclosed Funding: $3.9M

Select Investors: Accel Partners

Propeller‘s platform automatically processes photos from drones into maps, models, and data, available online in near-real time.

Seed / Angel Drone Companies to Watch

1. Starship Technologies

Headquarters: London, England

Disclosed Funding: $17.2M

Select Investors: Daimler, Matrix Partners, Shasta Ventures

Starship Technologies is building a fleet of self-driving delivery robots designed to deliver goods locally within 30 minutes. Designed using “off the shelf” components, the robots are lightweight and low-cost.

2. Hangar Technology

Headquarters: Austin, Texas

Disclosed Funding: $6.5M

Select Investors: Lux Capital

Hangar is building a suite of drone software products designed to drive value from a combination of robotics, sensor deployment, visual intelligence, and aerial data.

3. Iris Automation

Headquarters: Vancouver, Canada

Disclosed Funding: $2.2M

Select Investors: Social Capital, GGV Capital

Iris Automation enables safer drone operation through intelligent collision avoidance using high-tech computer vision.

4. Flock

Headquarters: London, England

Disclosed Funding: $740K

Select Investors: R/GA IoT Venture Studio

Flock aggregates and analyses data to quantify drone flight risks in real time and provide pay-as-you-fly insurance custom tailored to each flight.

5. Dronesmith

Headquarters: Henderson, Nevada

Disclosed Funding: $120K

Select Investors: Techstars

Dronesmith‘s open platform and cloud APIs enable developers to build, ship, and run drone applications on multiple devices in the cloud.

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