Drone industry

Commercial UAV Expo, one of the most highly-anticipated drone trade shows of the year, opens next week in Las Vegas with more than 225 organizations showcasing their solutions to over 2,500 drone professionals from across the world. One of these organizations is India’s ideaForge, which is using the conference as the first step toward building a local presence in the North American market.

The drone industry, which saw more than 40 mergers and acquisitions in 2021 alone, may do well to take some advice from AgEagle Aerial Systems on both acquisitions and negotiation strategy.

In a development that many didn’t see coming, Ondas Holdings has announced a deal to acquire drone-in-a-box solution provider Airobotics. The news comes barely a year after Ondas’s acquisition of American Robotics, a fellow player in the fully automated drone ecosystem.

Germany-based Quantum Systems, the maker of the popular fixed-wing Trinity and Vector/Scorpion eVTOL drones, has raised $32 million through a mix of equity and debt financing in its Series A funding round.

SkySpecs, a Michigan-based company whose drone software is used to monitor about 45% of all wind turbine blades in North America, has scooped up a cool $80 million in strategic funding to grow its product portfolio as well as geographic footprint. The funding round was led by Goldman Sachs with participation from NextEra Energy Resources and existing investors.

Terra Drone Corporation, a drone and urban air mobility (UAM) technology company headquartered in Japan, announced today it has scooped up a cool $70 million in Series B funding. The company, which was ranked as the “top drone service provider in the world” by market research firm Drone Industry Insights in 2019 and 2020, is now looking at establishing a US office and pushing out its uncrewed traffic management (UTM) offerings to the global market.

Everybody has heard about drones by now, but there are several other oft-used terms like UAS and UAV that tend to confuse readers. So, what exactly is a drone and how is it different from these other commonly heard terms such as UAS, UAV, FPV, RPAS, and model aircraft?

Drone Industry Insights (DII) analyzed more than 500 global companies whose core business is to manufacture drones. Here’s what they found…

After spending the last couple of months to acquire a $9 million stake in a European drone manufacturing firm and buying out an AI-based software company for an undisclosed sum, Aquiline Drones has quietly laid off nearly half of its workforce.

Research firm DroneAnalyst has just released its fifth annual drone market report, which combines findings from its annual survey and interviews with key industry stakeholders. The independent advisory firm has earned a reputation for being one of the most credible voices in the ever-expanding drone industry, and there’s a lot to unpack in the report. But, for now, let’s focus on four core insights, beginning with DJI’s commercial market share taking a massive hit in 2021.

At first, Ignatius Asabor’s journey from Nigeria to Finland could sound like feel-good fiction. “You can’t imagine how happy I am,” he tells you with his trademark toothy grin. But dig deeper, and you realize it’s a story of ambition, hard work, and tenacity. It also serves as a case in point that social media can be a very powerful tool in landing your dream job.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says there are 234,605 certified remote pilots in the United States, as of June 30, 2021. How much do these pilots earn? And which industries are paying the most? Let’s find out…

Drone manufacturers, take notice. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized a new rule that will crackdown on companies that make false, unqualified claims that their products are made in the USA.

Skylark Drones, the only Indian company to rank among the top four drone service providers in the world by Drone Industry Insights, has raised $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round to fuel growth in new geographies. This new funding follows the company’s previous seed funding round, which took place in 2018.

DroneAnalyst wants you – or at least some information from you. And by helping out DroneAnalyst with its annual survey, you’re assisting it with providing what we regard as the one of the most credible and thoughtful reports providing the Big Picture on the drone industry.

Ever wish you could drill down into the trends behind drone hardware sales? Wish no longer. A new report from DroneAnalyst has the scoop on hardware and data-based projection for where this sector will be headed from 2021-2026.

Tethered drone manufacturer Elistair has secured around $6 million (€5 million) in a Series B funding round. The money will allow the company to accelerate its expansion plans in the United States while reinforcing its presence in Europe.

Drone data capture company Skycatch has announced it has received $25 million in funding in its latest funding round to develop its operations and product offerings further. The funding was on top of a $13.2 million funding round all the way back in 2014.

The Liverpool City Region in the UK is dubbed to become the next testing ground for drone operations, creating jobs for skilled workers and boosting economic growth at the same time. The project has been given the name Phoenix I and will accelerate drone usage around the country.

Estonian drone company Hepta Airborne has announced a freemium version of its uBrid platform to allow more people to benefit from it. The company has perfected the software for the last couple of years, working with clients to improve it.

TideWise and STABLE have announced successful testing of their ARIEL project, which saw a drone autonomously take off from the USV Tupan. The drone is housed on the tiny crewless ship to monitor and detect oil spills.