November 22, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Leading drone platform provider DroneDeploy has closed on a $35 million Series D led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and including Energize Ventures, AirTree, Emergence Capital, Scale Venture Partners, and Uncork Capital. 

Bessemer Ventures’ partner David Cowan will join the DroneDeploy board as part of the round, which brings the company’s total funds raised to date to $90 million.

Founded in 2013 in San Francisco, DroneDeploy has grown to have more than 5,000 customers across multiple industries including agriculture, solar, wind, insurance, construction, mining, oil and gas, and search and rescue.

Working as a unifying force in drone technology, DroneDeploy connects developers, hardware partners, and pilots to transform how users collect, manage, and interpret drone-sourced data. Its user-friendly platform allows customers to improve operations through the integration of image processing, data storage, real-time mapping, and 3D modeling.

Farmers using the DroneDeploy platform can fly 160 acres in less than 15 minutes, scouting crops for variations and issues needing addressing without leaving the field. The company’s LiveMap feature provides a real-time mapping solution that “stitches RGIB and thermal imagery on the edge using iOS devices,” according to the company. 

Additionally, the company’s enterprise cloud capabilities provide the tools necessary to scale drone utilization across large operations. With a customer base of more than 5,000 companies, DroneDeploy’s technology is being used at 400,000 job sites where it has performed a combined 1 million flights across 100 million acres in 180 countries. And estimates are that several of its customers will be operating a fleet of more than 1,000 drones in 2020.

“Businesses of every size are turning to DroneDeploy to enable them to make better decisions,” said Mike Winn, co-founder and CEO, DroneDeploy. “We’re proud our software delivers faster, safer and more accurate insights over the one million flights our customers perform every year. This investment is a reflection of the growth of commercial drones in the enterprise and will help us deliver on the promise of automated drone use across every industry.”

This round follows a $25 million Series C closed by DroneDeploy in July of last year, that was led by Invenergy Future Fund, and included Australian venture capital firm, AirTree, as well as existing investors Scale Venture Partners, Uncork Capital, Emergence Capital, and AngelPad.

“We started DroneDeploy to make drones accessible tools to everyone, and we’ve since become the world’s largest commercial drone software platform by providing drone software that’s both easy to use, and powerful,” said Mike Winn, CEO and co-founder of DroneDeploy in July 2018 when the company announced its Series C.

Since its founding, DroneDeploy has experienced rapid growth to gain a prominent place in the $6 billion global drone market. Within this market, the agricultural drone segment is expected to grow from a value of $1.2 billion in 2019 to $4.8 billion by 2024, according to Markets and Markets. 

After having recently announced its reach into the drone inspection market, DroneDeploy plans to use the funds raised through this Series D to drive its international expansion, to expand the application of its services, and to further build out its suite of tools.

“At Bessemer, we see drone solutions as a major opportunity in a $6 billion global market and DroneDeploy is the clear software category leader,” said Cowan. “The world’s largest drone deployments rely on their technology, and we’re excited to help bring the value of their platform to companies around the world.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.