RALEIGH – PrecisionHawk’s whopping $75 million fund-raising news announced on Wednesday shows not only the growing international attention in the Raleigh-based startup but also the continuing growth of drone technology around the world. Interest is so keen that PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen says he capped the new round of capital rather than raise more.

Michael Chasen

So what are the plans of Chasen, who was named to the CEO post just a year ago?

First, the funding:

“We did have interest over the $75 million, but we chose to limit the round to the $75 million.”

  • So why raise so much cash?

“This industry really just began 18 months ago. In August of 2016 the Federal Aviation Administration began allowing corporations to use drones for commercial purposes.

“Since then, PrecisionHawk has seen a massive influx of opportunities to support leading enterprises with the development of their drone program.

” In order to meet the growing demand, we need to raise capital to scale up our team and technology.”

  • The funding and scaling does mean more jobs, too?

“Since I joined the company as CEO just last year, we have hired over 110 people. Our team has evolved to include dedicated professionals with deep backgrounds in drones, software, sensors who understand how to deploy enterprise technology.

“It’s our ability to provide a full custom solution that differentiates PrecisionHawk from any other provider of commercial drone technology, and we will continue to invest heavily in our people as we focus on our technology stack in 2018.”

  • So what was the message Chasen shared with investors to get them to sign on?

“PrecisionHawk provides a full enterprise solution stack. From services, like strategy and custom development, to technology, like drone hardware, sensors and software, we provide end-to-end support for integrating aerial data and analytics into the enterprise.

“End to end is important because the ability to provide a full custom solution is what differentiates PrecisionHawk from any other provider of commercial drone technology. We build a platform that matches our customer’s need to the best possible solution through a combination of partnerships and proprietary technology.

“This includes market leading drone hardware and software technology, where we couple drone hardware, sensors, software and analytics for clients who want to gather and manage aerial data themselves. Instead of relying on only one type of drone or sensor or analytics tool, we open our stack to equip customers with the tools that fit their specific needs.

“In many cases, our clients rely on PrecisionHawk to be the drone expert. In this case we will manage the entire data collection and analysis process for the clients. S

“Specifically for clients who use advanced sensors (like LiDAR or Ground Penetrating Radar) or those who need to fly Beyond Visual Line of Site (BVLOS). PrecisionHawk is still the only commercial provider of BVLOS services and we also support the broadest number of sensors, which is critical to show value across a professional operation.”

  • So what excites you most now about the opportunities before PrecisionHawk?

“Over the past couple of years, PrecisionHawk has been structuring its solution stack as a direct response to the market. This includes growing our team to include experts in drones, software, sensors who also have a deep understanding of how to deploy enterprise technology.

“What makes this job so interesting is that even though we have off the shelf capabilities for many industries we work in (agriculture, construction, insurance, energy and the government), every client wants us to push the boundaries of what our product can do.”