PrecisionHawk, the US-based creator of an aerial safety and data platform for users of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has completed an oversubscribed $18m series C round backed by several corporate investors.
Verizon Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures and Intel Capital, subsidiaries of telecoms firms Verizon and NTT Docomo, and chipmaker Intel respectively, took part in a round that also included motor and vehicle producer Yamaha Motor.
Innovate Indiana Fund, which operates as Indiana University’s seed investment fund, growth capital firm Millennium Technology Value Partners and a subsidiary of financial services firm USAA also invested.
PrecisionHawk has developed a software suite that helps drones efficiently collect data and operate safely, as well as its own UAVs and drone services. It chiefly serves customers in the agriculture, insurance and telecoms industries.
The company will use the series C cash to expand DataMapper, a data analysis platform that combines data from all drone systems, but which PrecisionHawk eventually intends to incorporate data from satellites and manned flights.
The round increased PrecisionHawk’s funding to $30m since it was founded in 2010, including $10m from a 2014 series B round that included Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Innovate Indiana Fund and angel investor Bob Young.
Dave Famolari, director of Verizon Ventures, said: “Adoption of UAV technology amongst major industries is growing at an incredible rate.
“I believe that PrecisionHawk’s high-resolution aerial data capture, analysis and storage platform can deliver unique insights and actionable data that can improve critical decision making across several industries.”
– Photo courtesy of PrecisionHawk