Ranked: Top drone companies for remote sensing, package delivery in 2022

With thousands of companies working with drones all around the globe, you may wonder which are the ones who are truly making a difference. Research firm Drone Industry Insights (DII) took stock of nearly 850 organizations whose core business is to offer drone services to third parties. Here are the top drone companies of 2022, according to DII’s assessment.

DII splits drone service providers into two groups: remote sensing and drone delivery. And to determine a company’s performance, researchers look at three key parameters: the organization’s size, growth, and public attention.

Interestingly, and maybe not surprisingly, US-based companies dominate the rankings for both remote sensing and drone delivery.

Here are the top rankers at a glance:

Best drone companies for mapping, inspection services

Here are the top companies in this category:

1. Aerodyne Group
2. Terra Drone Corporation
3. Cyberhawk
4. Nordic Unmanned
5. Field Group

DII points out that there are a lot of great companies doing very good work with drones and revolutionizing how inspections and surveying (among other tasks) are carried out around the globe. The energy sector is a major client for these companies since drone technology provides unique improvements to efficiency, safety, and savings of both time and money to utilities.

It’s also worth noting that while the number one company Aerodyne doubles the number of employees of second-place Terra Drone, the latter has accumulated $85 million of investment in five deals since its inception in 2016. “Overall, seven new companies entered the top 20, coming from various countries including Norway, Switzerland, Finland, and Canada. The Norwegian Nordic Unmanned saw the highest climb within the rankings, doubling its number of employees and increasing its rank by five spots to reach the top 5,” DII says.

Read: The top drone manufacturers of 2021

Best drone delivery companies of 2022

The ranking of companies for the best delivery drone services is as follows:

1. Zipline
2. Wing
3. Matternet
4. Manna ero
5. FlyTrex

A few interesting observations can be made within the top four drone service companies for delivery also. Zipline, Wing, Matternet, and Manna Aero continue to make headlines and dominate the market. In terms of employees, top-ranked Zipline has thrice the employee count than second-place Wing. This growth, DII explains, has been largely boosted by the $481 million in investment that Zipline has received in eight investment deals since its inception.

Further, Wing and Matternet have only a 1% gap in the ranking index, meaning that the difference is almost negligible. Meanwhile, Manna has doubled its employees from last year, as they are scaling up drone operations.

Read: DJI flyaway reporting process: What to do if your drone flies away