Drone startups are hot. In Q2’15 funding reached an all-time high and in Q3’15 we’ve already seen Series B fundings to two drone startups: SkyCatch, which raised $22.1M from Avalon Ventures and Riverwood Capital; and EHANG, which raised $42M from GGV Capital, GP Capital, and others. We’ve identified 10 more early-stage drone startups that are likely to raise in the next 12 months.
All these companies have raised in 2014 or 2015 year-to-date, have less than $15M in total funding, and show other positive metrics, including high investor quality or recent news mentions.
The list includes uber-for-drones companies such as DroneBase and Flirtey (they supply a drone and operator to businesses for a single use), drone-as-a-service startups such as DroneDeploy (they offer ongoing drone software, hardware, and/or services to clients who own their drones), and startups focused on object-avoidance drone tech like Skydio and SkySpecs.
The full list below.
| Company | Last Funding (Month/Year) | Total Disclosed Funding ($M) | Select Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| DroneDeploy | $9M // Series A (03/2015) |
$11.0 | Emergence Capital Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Redpoint Ventures, SoftTech VC |
| Kespry | $10M // Series A (01/2014) |
$10.0 | Lightspeed Venture Partners |
| Airphrame | $4.25M // Series A (07/2014) |
$4.3 | August Capital, Floodgate |
| Skydio | $3M // Seed VC (01/2015) |
$3.0 | Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz |
| Redbird | $2.19M // Seed VC (04/2015) |
$2.2 | Commercial Drone Fund, Engie New Ventures |
| MATTERNET | $2M // Convertible Note (01/2014) |
$2.0 | Undisclosed Investors |
| SkySpecs | $0.1M // Seed (01/2015) |
$1.1 | InvestMichigan! |
| DroneBase | Undisclosed // Seed VC – II (07/2015) |
$0.12 | Rothenberg Ventures, SkyFund, SV Angel, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator |
| Flirtey | $0.12M // Seed – II (08/2015) |
$0.12 | Space Angels Network, Y Combinator |
| Skyfront | $0.02M // Seed (05/2015) |
$0.02 | Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator |
Feature Image Credit: Skyfront
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