PrecisionHawk Inc. -- a leading provider of aerial data and safety platforms for drones -- announced today it has closed an $18 million round of funding with Verizon Ventures, a subsidiary of USAA, NTT Docomo Ventures, and Yamaha Motor with full participation from existing investors Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners and Indiana University's Innovate Indiana Fund in an oversubscribed round. This investment brings PrecisionHawk's total funding to more than $30 million to continue product innovation and global expansion of the company's low-altitude safety infrastructure and terrestrial data services.
The new equity funding will further accelerate the expansion of PrecisionHawk's terrestrial data analysis platform, DataMapper, which currently ingests data from all drone systems but, in the future, will combine aerial data from satellites and manned aviation so users can manage, analyze and compare all incoming data sources on a single platform. In 2015, DataMapper processed over a million acres and licensed over 200 analysis algorithms across industries from agriculture and insurance to energy and mining.
'At USAA, we're constantly seeking ways to better serve our members, so we're always on the lookout for innovative companies and emerging technologies,' said Nathan McKinley, head of USAA Corporate Development. 'We're excited to invest in PrecisionHawk because they lead the industry in developing unmanned aerial systems -- a technology we feel can help rebuilding following catastrophes.'
'Adoption of UAV technology amongst major industries is growing at an incredible rate,' said Dave Famolari, director of Verizon Ventures. '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.'
Another area of focus for 2016 is the development and commercialization of PrecisionHawk's Low-Altitude Traffic and Airspace Safety platform, LATAS, to allow safe and rapid integration of drones into national airspaces. To date, LATAS has won contracts with both state and international governments and has been successfully demonstrated over Verizon's LTE network under the FAA Pathfinder and NASA UTM programs.
'The company's LATAS initiative promises to be a key component to safely integrate drones into our national airspace and expand the potential applications for drone technology. We look forward to building our relationship with PrecisionHawk as it continues to innovate and expand into new industries and geographies,' Famolari said.
'Individuals and organizations across the world need better and more accurate data to manage the resources of our planet, and we are delighted to receive such a strong level of support and confidence from this group of investors to help us build out a platform for the industry,' said PrecisionHawk CEO Bob Young. 'This team of partners and investors is collaborating to better serve the need for managing terrestrial change data. Providing a safe and reliable platform for managing aerial data is both an exciting and important project for our engineers and our partners.'
About PrecisionHawk Inc.
PrecisionHawk is a terrestrial data acquisition and analysis company founded in 2010. The company provides an end-to-end solution using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for data collection and analysis software tools to deliver better business intelligence to clients across a wide range of civilian industries. PrecisionHawk also owns terrestrial data software, DataMapper, satellite imagery provider, Terraserver, and the Low Altitude Traffic and Airspace Safety platform for drones, LATAS. A privately held company based in Raleigh, NC and Toronto, Canada, PrecisionHawk's investors include Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Verizon Ventures, a subsidiary of USAA, NTT Docomo Ventures, Yamaha Motor and Indiana University's Innovate Indiana Fund. More information about PrecisionHawk can be found at www.precisionhawk.com or on Twitter @PrecisionHawk.