3D Robotics, North America’s largest personal drone manufacturer, reportedly sealed its last round of financing, which is a whopping $50 million. This also becomes the largest amount ever raised by a U.S based consumer drone company. This media breaking news occurred less than two weeks, after the release of newly proposed regulations the Federal Aviation Administration, in lieu of commercial drones.
Future aspects
The company raised that amount of money, primarily led by Qualcomm, Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM), whose Snapdragon processors the company intends on using, along with its funds, to expand both its hardware and software product development. Post the overwhelming news of the funding round, as reported originally by VentureWire, 3D Robotics now boast of a total funding of more than $85 million till date.
The company, however, did not release a valuation of its funding. Financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the day the news was reported showed that the company purposed on raising $40 million after selling almost $32 million worth of shares. How the company exceeded its prospective funding margin is still unclear, as the company spokesperson has not yet disclosed any information regarding the same.
The birth of the industry giants
3D Robotics was born over emails and phone calls between Chris Anderson and Jordi Munoz, the founders, in 2009. Munoz, who was then a 20-year-old immigrant from Mexico, presently residing in Los Angeles, initially, met Anderson, then magazine editor, virtually through a popular forum essentially for drone hobbyists. Munoz had posted a prototype on the forum which was eventually funded by Anderson who actually intended to offer some advice to Munoz. After regular correspondence the two created 3D Robotics.
The company’s novel ambitions
The company specializes in consumer drones for the purposes of photography and mapping. Besides developing new technologies, they also sell drone parts and accessories, as well as the open source auto-pilot, which is highly acclaimed by the DIY drone crowd. Along with ventures into hardware technology, 3D Robotics also maintains a well-known ‘how-to website’ drone.
3D Robotics, holding offices in three different cities along with a factory in Tijuana, is more optimistic than ever of their future prospects and expects to reach sales worth $ 50 million, as reported by BBC.
