December 16, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Raleigh, North Carolina-based PrecisionHawk, a leading provider of drone technology to the world’s top enterprises, announced it has raised $32 million in growth capital through a round backed by a range of venture investors including Millennium Technology Value Partners, Third Point Ventures, and Eastward Capital Partners, among others. 

Founded in 2010, the startup focuses on applications for its technology in agriculture, energy, and telecommunications, offering its customers software and hardware, sensor technology, and analytics services along the entire length of supply chains. Its customer base includes the “Big Six” global seed and ag chemical companies, five of the top 10 utility companies, and the largest provider of communications infrastructure. Additionally,  PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen told WRAL TechWire that the company has reported 100 percent growth for two consecutive years, and its has grown to a team of 140, with a network numbering in the thousands. 

PrecisionHawk’s roots however, began in agriculture, an industry that the company predicts will see a future value of drone-powered solutions of $32.4 billion – second only to infrastructure. Although once held at arm’s distance by agricultural growers, the ongoing maturation of the category, advancements to analytic technologies, and the reduction in costs for hardware have resulted in drones gaining traction both in terms of adoption and investment dollars. Reflecting this trend, Markets and Markets predicts that the agricultural drone industry will see a CAGR of 30.19 percent through 2022 to reach a value of $4.2 billion.

“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,” said Chasen in 2018. “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 them more profitable and sustainable.”

The commercial drone sector has seen growth that is outpacing expectations, leading the FAA to predict that the industry could triple between today and 2023, when there could be 823,000 active drones in the sky. And with this funding, PrecisionHawk will be able to better position itself at the crest of the wave. Using this capital, the startup will be able to advance the development of its AI and machine learning-driven software, to expand its market, and to strengthen its sales efforts.

“We are excited to continue our support of PrecisionHawk during this next phase of its growth,” said Sam Schwerin, co-founder and managing partner of Millennium Technology Value Partners.

“The feedback from customers has been very promising and we believe PrecisionHawk is well positioned to capitalize on the huge market opportunity ahead of it. PrecisionHawk’s powerful PrecisionAnalytics software applies the latest generation of artificial intelligence to aerial data unlocking the data’s potential to accelerate and optimize work for the enterprise.”

This round brings total funding to-date for PrecisionHawk to more than $130 million. It follows a high-profile, $75 million Series D in January 2018 led by Third Point Ventures, that included Comcast Ventures, Syngenta Ventures, DuPont, Indiana University’s Innovate Indiana Fund, Senator Investor Group, Constellation Technology Ventures, Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, and others.

At the time, the startup’s Series D dwarfed its previous rounds, bringing in more than triple the funding raised by its $18 million Series C raised in April 2016 and its $10 million Series B in November 2014 combined.

– 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.