RALEIGH – PrecisionHawk, the Raleigh-based emerging entrepreneurial company focusing on drone technology, is now soaring with cash.
PrecisionHawk
The firm early Wednesday disclosed raising a whopping $75 million in new financing – three times what it had raised previously since launching in 2010.
The funds will be used for workforce expansion, product development and what the company calls “strategic acquisitions.”
PrecisionHawk is seeking to capitalize on a growing demand for drone services worldwide. “Goldman Sachs Research predicts that the sector’s fastest growth will come from businesses and civil governments, who are expected to spend $13 billion on drones through 2020,” the company pointed out in the funding news.
“PrecisionHawk’s mission is to empower the enterprise pioneer, from pilot to deployment. To drive transformational change, we believe a business needs an integrated hardware-software platform and the technical support to connect to existing systems and workflows,” said Michael Chasen, PrecisionHawk’s CEO, in the announcement.
“Drones are not only replacing old information with more precise information. They are providing an entirely new layer that was previously unattainable or economically prohibitive to collect. With advanced sensors such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and the analytics to interpret their outputs, organizations are gaining unprecedented visibility into their work. Ultimately, making make them more profitable and sustainable.”
PrecisionHawk says the new cash “makes it it the world’s most well-capitalized commercial drone company.”
“We see the potential for PrecisionHawk to enable enterprises around the world with new tools for 21st century opportunities,” said Robert Schwartz, Managing Partner of Third Point Ventures, which led the round. “We believe the business insight that can be achieved with PrecisionHawk technology will be a catalyst for profound transformation, and this investment gives us an opportunity to support their growth and continued industry leadership.”
Other investors include Comcast Ventures, Senator Investor Group, Constellation Technology Ventures and Syngenta Ventures, among others, with participation from existing investors Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, DuPont, Verizon Ventures, a subsidiary of USAA, and Indiana University’s Innovate Indiana Fund.
