Of all the technological developments to emerge in recent decades, one has impacted a surprising amount of industries — drones.
With the ability to scale huge distances both vertically and horizontally, drones provide the ability to reach places humans simply cannot, and do so more efficiently. As hardware improved to make drones lighter, stronger and faster, the potential for drones grew exponentially.
Today, drones are used in construction, photography, agricultural, defense and other industries to protect the skies, repopulate forests and accomplish much more on a huge scale.
Drone technology is only as powerful as the teams who create it, and with the innovation put on display by these drone companies, it’s clear the future for drones is sky high.
Drone Companies to Know
- Corvus Robotics
- Dedrone
- DroneDeploy
- DroneUp
- DroneSeed
- DroneSense
- Propeller Aero
- Skydio
- Skycatch
- Skyword
- Valqari
- Volansi
- WiBotic
- Wing
- Zipline
Drone Companies to Know
Founded: 2015
Location: San Diego, California
As a drone airspace management company, SkySafe uses radio engineering and deep threat analysis to create drone defense tech tools and best practices for the military, public safety authorities and commercial drone pilots. SkySafe tech allows clients to detect, track and map drone activity, identifying the precise location of both drone and operator.
Founded: 1971
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Founded over a half century ago, this publicly traded American defense contractor develops unmanned aircrafts — both drones and helicopters — used by over 50 allied nations for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes. It also makes ground control tablets meant to streamline mission communication and collaboration.
Founded: 2014
Location: Houston, Texas
Airobotics manufactures automated drones that can be used for a wide range of applications, including inspection, security, surveying and stockpile management. Each industrial-grade drone comes with a robotic arm for automatic payload and battery exchange and a software solution designed to be intuitive for operators to use.
Founded: 2019
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
The drone-maker Brinc markets its product, called the LEMUR S, to first responders who find themselves in high-risk situations — whether it’s breaching windows or locating people in need of rescue. The drone features a quad-copter design, night vision capabilities and a 31-minute flight time. Founder and CEO Blake Resnick was featured on Forbes’ annual 30-under-30 list.
Founded: 2016
Location: San Diego, California
Citadel Defense Company partners with government and commercial organizations who want to use its Titan drones for protection and surveillance purposes. The drones rely on AI and machine learning to detect nearby communication links and are designed to mitigate individual drone attacks.
Founded: 2017
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Corvus Robotics is pioneering drone technology for use across several mediums, bringing autonomous capabilities to industries ripe for optimization. The company focuses primarily on manufacturing drones for use in the warehouse inventory operations of manufacturers, 3PLs and distributors. It also makes autonomous disinfection robots for hospitals to use.
Founded: 2014
Location: San Francisco, California
While drones can help businesses and organizations get their work done, they can also become security threats. Dedrone is trusted by G7 nations, Fortune 500 companies, international airports and prison complexes to keep unwanted and unauthorized drones off grounds before they have the opportunity to do harm. Dedrone offers RF sensors, mitigation technology and machine-learning-enabled software to ensure drone countermeasures are efficiently executed.
Founded: 2015
Location: New York, New York
The Drone Racing League is a global, professional racing entity where pilots test their capabilities and contend with the best competition the sport has to offer. The league combines both physical and digital racing environments, as pilots navigate obstacle courses with drones that fly as quickly as 90 miles per hour.
Founded: 2013
Location: San Francisco, California
DroneDeploy is used by more than 5,000 companies worldwide to manage, track and operate drone operations across a range of industries. The platform supports drones from multiple leading manufacturers and offers functionality for flight, photogrammetry, analysis and more, with the ability to integrate with existing applications.
Founded: 2016
Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia
DroneUp is a drones services provider known for its on-demand delivery platform that utilizes a database of thousands of FAA-certified pilots. In 2021, the company received an investment from Walmart, for which it began testing consumer deliveries in select stores, and announced its acquisition of AirMap, a maker of airspace management software.
Founded: 2016
Location: Seattle, Washington
DroneSeed provides a tool for offsetting the environmental damage caused by wildfires and commercial deforestation, utilizing drone technology to re-seed environments quickly and efficiently. The company’s model reduces reforestation costs by nearly half through the elimination of chemical and manual labor factors, creating the ability to propagate 40 acres of land in a single day — six times faster than human tree planters.
Founded: 2015
Location: Austin, Texas
DroneSense’s software platform allows first responders and organizations to scale their drone programs and leverage the full capabilities of drone technology as a public safety initiative. The company’s Airbase platform provides operators with the ability to attribute core data across all mission assets and pilots, automatically log flights, create customizable pilot checklists, generate custom reports and much more — expanding situational awareness in the moments when it’s needed most.
Founded: 2020
Location: Miami, Florida
A small group of engineers founded Hextronics in 2020 with the goal of powering the burgeoning drone ecosystem — literally. The company makes docking stations for charging drone batteries, so pilots can fly missions just about anywhere.
Founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Ouster develops advanced lidar sensor technology that allows autonomous vehicles, trucks, robots and drones to operate efficiently and intuitively. The company’s products offer several unique laser combinations, with each sensor utilizing specialized wide-angle, mid-range, long-range or solid-state capabilities for a variety of use-cases.
Founded: 2010
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
While it began as a data and research firm, PrecisionHawk now uses drone technology to help businesses gather intelligence about their physical assets. Its solutions are applicable across government, utilities, agriculture, telecommunications, and oil and gas industries.
Founded: 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Propeller Aero equips construction, mining, quarry and landfill businesses with physical and digital tools that allow insight into all facets of the land they work on. For instance, the company’s PPK drones offer both simplicity and high performance when surveying and tracking the work progress and safety of sites.
Founded: 2014
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Robodub is a hardware company that makes “morphing drones.” These unmanned aerial vehicles have the ability to alter their motor positions in real time and in mid-flight, making it possible to deliver larger payloads and stand up to unstable conditions.
Founded: 2014
Location: Redwood City, California
Named one of 2021’s most innovative companies by Fast Company, Skydio manufactures intelligent drones powered by machine learning and capable of autonomous flight. These drones also possess capabilities for high-speed manual flight and obstacle avoidance. And they’re designed to fulfill specific purposes, with the Skydio 2 created for commercial uses and the Skydio X2 (fitted with a 4k60 HDR camera) for superior video.
Founded: 2013
Location: San Francisco, California
Industrial firms use Skycatch drones to survey and analyze complex mining and construction sites. The heavy-duty drones, which can fly for up to nearly an hour, use high resolution cameras and lidar sensors to create high-fidelity 3D models of surfaces. Additional data can be tracked and presented on Skycatch’s software program.
Founded: 2012
Location: Portland, Oregon
Skyward, which is a Verizon company, makes a drone software platform for companies to use for their drone operations. That includes help with airspace intelligence, flight planning tools, risk assessments, live flight tracking, photogrammetric models, program insights reporting and more.
Founded: 2017
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Valqari aims to disrupt the shipping and logistics industry with drones that deliver packages more efficiently than ever. The company’s smart drone delivery mailbox systems ensure deliveries can be completed safely, securely and conveniently, leading to reduced shipping costs and limited liabilities when transporting goods.
Founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, California
Volansi operates in the commercial, defense and healthcare logistics industries to design and operate drone technology that delivers important items — like medical devices and spare parts — to those who need them in record time. In 2020, the company inked a contract worth $40 million to develop drones for the United States Air Force.
Founded: 2015
Location: Seattle, Washington
WiBotic enhances the working efficiency of robotic devices of all kinds, offering power solutions designed to reduce downtime and streamline operations. The company also provides access to wireless charging capabilities via transmitter coils that provide high power and efficiency while maintaining flexibility and charge range. The company also offers power optimization software to improve battery performance across entire fleets.
Founded: 2018
Location: Palo Alto, California
Wing provides a drone delivery service that operates on three continents and is capable of delivering goods across six miles in as little as six minutes. The company’s drones can lift goods that weigh up to three pounds and produce zero emissions when in flight, with users able to place orders from local businesses via Wing’s app.
Founded: 2011
Location: San Francisco, California
Zipline operates drone technology built to endure harsh conditions to deliver necessary medicine to communities throughout the world. The company is focused on breaking through supply chain barriers to offer a more efficient delivery method powered by autonomous flight, relying on drones that are capable of completing trips around the equator in as little as two-and-a-half days and putting crucial prescriptions in the hands of those who need it most.
