Raleigh drone firm PrecisionHawk acquired by Norway’s Field Group

PrecisionHawk, one of the first US drone businesses to raise big VC money, has been scooped up by European technology company Field. The acquisition gives Norway-based Field a foothold in the US and plans are in place to operate PrecisionHawk under the Field brand name by the end of the year.

With its headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, PrecisionHawk was founded in 2010 to help chase pest birds away from vineyards. By 2012, the company had grown to include other precision agriculture services and picked up $1 million in Series A funding shortly after that.

By the time PrecisionHawk closed its Series D funding round in 2018, it had raised more than $100 million. This was also a time when the startup was scaling at eye-popping rates, acquiring as many as five drone and technology companies in a single year.

PrecisionHawk’s last funding round, Series E, came in December 2019 where it raised another $32 million. The company ditched agriculture for energy and utility inspections shortly after that.

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Field Group primarily focuses on digital reality services in the infrastructure, construction, environment, and public sectors. It became an established technology supplier in the US following an exclusivity agreement with drone solution company Spright in 2021.

Field CEO Cato Vevatne points out that acquiring PrecisionHawk makes complete sense because his company is introducing state-of-the-art European technology to the US while PrecisionHawk is sharing specialist knowledge with Field. Here’s Vevatne:

This acquisition will shake up the US infrastructure and energy markets and help drive the shift to more sustainable and effective solutions. Our combined resources help our customers boost efficiency and reliability, build resilience, manage risk and safety, and move towards a cleaner and greener future.

Vevatne also stresses that data security will continue to be a top priority with all the data remaining in the US.

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