DroneDeploy Raises $2 Million in Funding for Smartphone Imagery Analysis



by Scott Kesselman



DroneDeploy, a startup operated by Infatics Inc., that specializes in analyzing images taken by small drones using a tablet or smartphone, has raised $2 million in seed funding.



The company makes a suite of applications to aid businesses in farming, construction, and environmental and land surveillance.  They do not offer products for defense or military purposes.



AgEagle LLC, a DroneDeploy customer from Kansas, uses the solutions with a small unmanned aerial vehicle that takes rapid infrared and other photos from above farmers’ fields. Another team uses a fleet of UAVs outfitted with DroneDeploy’s technology to monitor areas where poachers hunt endangered species.  



Before DroneDeploy technologies, farmers had to either wait up to 15 days for a satellite to pass over and send images or, if using a UAV with a camera, had to wait for the aircraft to return so it could grab a card and download images before analyzing them manually. 



With DroneDeploy’s software, users get real-time feedback and can manage any problem areas revealed. 



“Such rapid analysis can mean the difference between dead or robust crops, and it saves farmers the expense of spraying or irrigating too broadly,” says Bret Chilcott, AgEagle founder.



DroneDeploy is “building software infrastructure” in an industry that badly needs it, says Jeff Clavier, founder of invested firm SoftTechVC, about the reasoning behind investment.



The company plans on using funding to make new customers aware of its current offerings and to develop new applications to make UAV use accessible to first responders, firefighters, and media and entertainment companies.