Drones

Skyfish’s funding in drone firm postpones $ 20 million

US drone maker Skyfish announced a $ 20 million round of funding, another indication that investments in drone companies are shifting to reward companies that offer advanced technology to an established sector.

The drone industry has often been accused of being a solution to a problem, but with the maturity of drone technology, that can no longer be said. Skyfish’s solution is an example from the USA: The company offers autonomous drones that deliver asset models that are accurate to the nearest centimeter, suitable for technical purposes – and the cellular industry is quick to adopt them.

The investments in drone companies have slowed since the beginning shortly before and after the passage of Part 107, which regulated commercial drone operations in the US in 2016, the “peak of inflated expectations” is over – but the industry can with a low and expect a “productivity plateau”. This plateau appears to have been reached as the drone solutions are mature and can offer significant value. This year the investment trend has gone from larger amounts to fewer companies and has rewarded companies that have demonstrated breakthrough development or a large return on investment for industrial customers.

Steven Bernstein

For Skyfish, years of development have resulted in a new manufacturing facility in Montana, partnerships with major technology providers such as Sony and Bentley, and an enviable list of customers. As Skyfish receives their new round of funding, they also appoint a cell phone industry veteran, Steven Bernstein, to their board of directors – further proof that the cell phone industry wants what they offer. Bernstein is the founder and chairman of SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC) and a Skyfish investor.

“After speaking to Skyfish customers, we quickly understood that Skyfish is unique in the commercial drone world and produces precise, drone-ready photogrammetry and 3D models of the infrastructure in engineering quality,” said Bernstein. “These are the best digital twin cell tower models I’ve seen and could vastly improve the cellular industry’s inspection, measurement, and assembly mapping processes.”

“The Skyfish team invented an autonomous work drone for scanning infrastructures that enables detailed, centimeter-level measurements not only of cell towers, but also of many critical infrastructure targets: power lines, dams, bridges, substations, wind turbines and airports,” says Bernstein. “So far, Skyfish’s amazing photogrammetry has been a bit of an industry secret, but now it’s time to tell the world.”

“We are very excited about the investment and our growing customer base,” said John Livingston, Chairman of Skyfish. “It confirms what we’ve seen throughout our development that customers are ready to adopt technology that offers a real return on investment.”

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