PrecisionHawk, a Raleigh-based developer of drones and software for analysis of aerial data, is flying high with $10 million in new funding. The company also landed a big-name New York investor, and Red Hat co-founder Bob Young invests again.
Millennium Technology Value Partners led the round. Previous investors Young and the Innovate Indiana Fund also participated.
PrecisionHawk has offices in Raleigh, Indianapolis and Toronto.
With the funding, the company plans to add an office in Texas where it has struck a partnership with texas A&M University.
PrecisionHawk says it will expand its work force, speed up product development and accelerate its sales efforts. The company says more than 50 clients have already signed on.
Millennium said PrecisionHawk's use of unmanned aerial vehicle technology drew its attention.
"Our firm believes that substantial value is being created by the transformative effect of UAV technology," said Samuel Schwerin, founder and Managing Partner of Millennium Technology Value Partners, in announcing the deal.
"PrecisionHawk envisions a world, as we do, where businesses across a wide variety of industries can access aerial information and gain actionable insights in an affordable, turnkey manner. This investment is a way to accelerate the development of an open platform for many innovative applications to be built upon."
The startup says industry analysts estimate the UAV market to be worth $77 billion or more in the coming decade.
"At the end of the day, our customers want a cost-effective, easy to use and efficient solution that will allow them to do more with less," said PrecisionHawk CEO Christopher Dean in the announcement. "The close of this funding round, with such well-respected investors, is an exciting step forward and clear validation of our end-to-end approach and market leadership."
Millennium has invested in 72 firms over the past 12 years, including Facebook, Twitter, Zappos, Alibaba, Tumblr and iPass.
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