Notable early-stage drone startups include companies focused on anti-collision software and pay-as-you-fly drone insurance.
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.
Track all the Drone startups in this brief and many more on our platform
Drone startups transforming unstructured environments are reshaping the ways we collect data, transport goods, and protect our property. Look for Drones in the Collections tab.
Track drone startupsSeed / 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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