Plans To Expand Its Presence In Commercial Drone Industry

Delair, a supplier of commercial drone solutions, today announced an agreement to acquire the key assets of Airware, a developer of innovative software analytics tools for drone-based data. The acquisition brings Delair leading edge technology assets, including a proven software solution, a highly skilled engineering and customer success team in Paris, and an installed base of customers and dealers worldwide. The acquisition accelerates Delair’s global growth and broadens its end-to-end solution for the commercial UAV market. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The acquisition signals a new period of growth and product line expansion by Delair. With the integration of Airware’s complementary technology, we have significantly strengthened our position as the leading provider of drone-based business intelligence globally. This strategic development further enhances our offer which enables the digital transformation of enterprises in the key industries we serve,” said Michaël de Lagarde, co-founder and CEO of Delair.

The addition of Airware’s assets will expand Delair’s presence in the United States, as well as in key industrial markets.

Founded in 2011 in California, Airware has developed a successful software offering and its cloud-based solution has been adopted by large companies in the construction, mining and insurance industries. Airware (and previously Redbird) developed its solution together with Caterpillar. Caterpillar dealers covering more than 50 countries have provided the Airware software to their customers to improve productivity and safety on mines, quarries, and construction sites.

Airware’s technology complements the product line from Delair, which is recognized as one of the world’s leading pioneers in commercial drone solutions, especially for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. Delair has focused on end-to-end solutions since its inception in 2011, including fixed-wing drones, cloud-based data processing and analysis, local customer support and custom consulting services. In September 2018, Delair closed a round of B-Series financing with Intel Capital to accelerate the development of its software offering, and the Airware acquisition supports that strategy. The company, which now has more than 180 employees worldwide, supports customers in a wide range of industries such as mining, construction, energy, utilities, oil and gas, transportation, security and agriculture.

The agreement between the two companies includes a business continuity plan to ensure existing Airware customers and dealers receive world class support and service, as well as upgrades as needed.

“Airware played a pivotal role in enabling enterprises to leverage drone technology and powerful analytics to improve productivity, mitigate risks, and take workers out of harm’s way. As we looked for a partner, we were impressed by Delair’s vision and all the synergies that exist between our technologies and our views of the market. The drone industry is maturing fast and customers are now looking for comprehensive, end-to-end solutions. Airware’s advanced data management and data analysis tools will be highly complementary with Delair’s existing solutions. This will greatly benefit all our customers, who are using drone technologies to improve their operations. We are proud that our technology and much of our team lives on as part of the market leader, Delair,” said Sasha Pesic, CEO of Airware.

In 2016 Airware acquired Redbird, a software development operation based in Paris. Founded in 2013, Redbird was a pioneer in software solutions for drone data analytics, particularly for mining, quarries and construction. The Redbird team will continue to be based in Paris and be integrated with Delair’s engineering and customer success operations, working on new data-based services as well as applying leading-edge artificial intelligence to drone data collection and analysis.

“We are very excited to see our team joining Delair. There’s a great fit as this will form a comprehensive solution with hardware, advanced software, and customized services. Optimized analytics is the key piece of software that enterprise companies need to scale their drone program. We look forward to leveraging our unique capabilities in machine learning and commercializing them with Delair,” said de Maistre, co-founder and former CEO of Redbird, who will lead software channel sales efforts at Delair.

(Image provided with Delair news release)

FMI: delair.aero