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A vertical inspection application from DroneDeploy.
Enterprise drone data company DroneDeploy raised $50 million in Series E financing. The round was led by existing investors Energize Ventures and AirTree, with participation from Bessemer, Scale, Emergence, Angelpad, Uncork and Frontline Ventures. This funding brings DroneDeploy’s total fundraising to date to $142 million.
The investment will be used to expand the company’s products beyond aerial capture, accelerate its expansion into Europe, and explore opportunities for strategic acquisitions. DroneDeploy raised a $35 million Series D round in November 2019.
San Francisco-based DroneDeploy powers drones and ground-level cameras to automatically collect and analyze visual data from job sites, operations and assets. It serves 5,000-plus businesses in 200-plus countries and 20-plus industries, including construction, agriculture and energy, helping them maintain a productive, efficient and safe work environment.The company was founded in 2013 and started as a drone mapping platform.
“We see two powerful tailwinds. Enterprise use of drones is exploding. Across the globe, the largest agriculture, logistics, construction, and energy companies are operating fleets of hundreds of drones, and they are using DroneDeploy to manage them. To support our thousands of European users, we are launching an EMEA office,” said Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy. “At the same time, companies are digitizing their sites inside and out, creating full digital twins of their assets. We have expanded our drone technology with the ability to capture and analyze images from ground-based cameras operated by people or robots. We will continue to enhance our complete digitization platform to deliver fully immersive environments.”
Stephen McIntyre, partner at European-based Frontline Ventures, is particularly interested in DroneDeploy’s push into Europe, which is already DroneDeploy’s second-largest market.
“U.S. companies have seen unprecedented growth overseas in recent years as software buyers around the globe catch up with those in the U.S. Frontline Ventures works with SaaS market leaders to break into Europe. DroneDeploy’s position as the leader in the U.S. commercial drone market and its rapidly expanding capabilities beyond drones position it to successfully solidify its leadership position internationally.”
DroneDeploy recently announced updates to 360 Walkthrough and Vertical Flight, key features that enable visual data capture from cameras on the ground and drones flying vertically beside a structure or asset.
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