DroneDeploy has successfully raised $56 million over four funding rounds, positioning itself as a leading provider of drone software solutions. The platform offers a range of products, including automated flight safety checks, real-time mapping, and data processing, catering to industries such as agriculture, construction, and mining.
Keep reading to delve into the details of DroneDeploy's fundraising journey and discover the investors who have backed this innovative platform.
What Is DroneDeploy?
DroneDeploy, founded in 2013, is based in San Francisco. The company was established by Nicholas Pilkington, Jono Millin, and Mike Winn, who also serves as the CEO.
DroneDeploy offers a leading drone software platform that enables unlimited flying, mapping, and sharing. Their software includes features like automated flight safety checks, workflows, and real-time mapping and data processing.
With a team of 51-200 employees, DroneDeploy serves various industries, including agriculture, construction, and mining, providing comprehensive visibility and insights through their reality capture software.
How Much Funding Has DroneDeploy Raised?
- Seed Round
- Amount Raised: $2,000,000
- Date: September 2014
- Lead Investors: Uncork Capital
- Motivation Behind the Round: To make it easier for businesses to fly drones and analyze captured images using a tablet or smartphone.
- Series A Round
- Amount Raised: $9,000,000
- Date: March 2015
- Lead Investors: Emergence Capital
- Motivation Behind the Round: Scaling up operations to meet anticipated demand and developing additional features for the platform.
- Series B Round
- Amount Raised: $20,000,000
- Date: August 2016
- Lead Investors: Scale Venture Partners
- Motivation Behind the Round: To grow DroneDeploy's drone data management platform, focusing on hiring, product development, sales, and marketing.
- Series C Round
- Amount Raised: $25,000,000
- Date: June 2018
- Lead Investors: Invenergy Future Fund
- Motivation Behind the Round: To expand DroneDeploy's ecosystem of platform apps and integrations, and to accelerate industry-focused solutions.
Total Amount Raised: $56,000,000
Current Valuation: $200,000,000 (~estimated)
Key Investors
- Invenergy Future Fund
- Details: Invenergy Future Fund is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies focused on energy and industrial operations. They aim to make these operations more affordable, reliable, and secure.
- Investment Focus Areas: Energy, industrial operations, technology.
- Notable Investments: Not specified in the sources.
- Scale Venture Partners
- Details: Scale Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that focuses on SaaS and technology companies capable of scaling their operations. Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners joined DroneDeploy’s board.
- Investment Focus Areas: SaaS, technology, enterprise software.
- Notable Investments: DocuSign, Box.
- Emergence Capital
- Details: Emergence Capital is a venture capital firm specializing in enterprise cloud companies and SaaS platforms. Kevin Spain, a general partner at Emergence Capital, joined DroneDeploy’s board.
- Investment Focus Areas: Enterprise cloud, SaaS, technology.
- Notable Investments: Salesforce, Zoom, Veeva Systems.
- Uncork Capital
- Details: Uncork Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology startups. They were one of the initial investors in DroneDeploy.
- Investment Focus Areas: Early-stage technology, SaaS, consumer internet.
- Notable Investments: Fitbit, Eventbrite, Mint.
- AngelPad
- Details: AngelPad is a startup accelerator that helps early-stage companies grow and secure funding. They have been involved with DroneDeploy since its seed round.
- Investment Focus Areas: Early-stage startups, SaaS, marketplaces.
- Notable Investments: Postmates, Buffer, CoverHound.
What's Next for DroneDeploy?
DroneDeploy stands at the cusp of significant growth opportunities, particularly in the Energy, Construction, and Agriculture sectors. With a community of 30,000 users mapping 30 million acres globally, the potential for expansion is vast. The company plans to leverage its $25 million Series C funding to enhance its ecosystem of over 80 platform apps and integrations, and to invest heavily in artificial intelligence to build new workflows.
Future fundraising seems likely as DroneDeploy continues to scale its operations and develop strategic partnerships with major companies like SoftBank and Accenture. However, challenges such as navigating regulatory changes, maintaining market leadership amidst increasing competition, and ensuring data security will need to be addressed to sustain its growth trajectory.
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