Lily Robotics, Maker Of Self-Flying Drones, Seeking To Raise $15.5 Million At $100 Million Valuation

lily2

By Aaron Tilley and Ryan Mac

In May, Lily Robotics received a flurry of attention when it announced the pre-sale campaign for its flagship drone, which came with a slick launch video that showed a device that could be thrown in the air and autonomously follow its user. A little more than three months later, it’s no surprise that the company has also attracted the glances of investors.

According to regulatory filings provided to FORBES by VC Experts, a private market research firm, Lily is seeking to raise $15.5 million in a Series A round that would value the company at more than $100 million. It’s unclear whether any deal has closed, though one source suggested that the company was in talks with Boston-based Spark Capital to lead the round. Lily also raised $1 million in seed funding in 2014.

The company did not respond to a request for comment on its proposed funding round. Spark Capital also did not return a request for comment.

If Lily is able to raise the funding amount, it would be a significant accomplishment for a company that has yet to begin shipping its product. FORBES was able to the test the drone last May in San Francisco and it mostly worked, taking off when thrown into the air and following a demonstrator around without controls. It did not cooperate for everyone, however, as seen in this messy trial for The Guardian. Industry sources who are skeptical of the product noted that proposed features like the “follow me” capability take years of research to perfect and will be difficult to safely deploy in live environments.

Funding for drone companies has skyrocketed in the past year, especially in the consumer market. Chipmaker Intel INTC -3.57% invested $60 million into Chinese drone maker Yuneec in August, besting the $42 million raised by another Chinese manufacturer, Ehang, earlier in the month. In May, Shenzhen-based DJI, the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, raised $75 million at an $8 billion valuation from Accel Partners.

When it is complete, the Lily drone will be a quadcopter that can follow a user at speeds of up to 25 miles-per-hour at a height of 10 to 30 feet, the company said. The device will also include a  camera to capture high-definition video  (1080p at 60 frame-per-second.) Lily is positioning itself as a competitor with GoPro, which is set to unveil its own drone later this year.

FAA approves startup to operate a giant fleet of drones

The Federal Aviation Administration recently approved a small drone startup called Measure to fly 324 drones for business purposes.

It may not be long before we see fleets of drones buzzing across the sky.

The Federal Aviation Administration has given a startup called Measure permission to fly 324 drones, the company announced on Tuesday.

But Measure won’t be using its drones to deliver toothbrushes, medical supplies, or diapers like other companies have been itching to do. Instead, Measure will use its drones to gather data.

As Fortune reported in July, the Washington, D.C.-based startup operates a drone consultancy and services business that works with clients to figure out how drones could help them. It focuses on the agriculture, oil and gas, insurance, and other industries in which aerial photography and other data is a valuable commodity.

Boeing BA 2.52% , IBM IBM 1.66% , UPS UPS 1.59% , and the American Red Cross are all users of Measure’s drones, according to CNN.

Companies looking to fly drones for business purposes must currently seek approval from the FAA and abide by a series of rules including flying no higher than 400 feet above the ground and always within the line of sight of human operators. These rules have made it difficult for companies like Amazon AMZN 2.82% to get drone-delivery businesses off the ground.

Measure, however, seems to have had an easier time getting the FAA approval because it wants to use its drones to collect data and not deliver goods. In a letter to the FAA, Measure said that it intends to comply with the flight altitude ceiling and make sure that its human operators keep a close watch.

In July, a drone operated by a small startup called Flirtey made the first legal drone delivery sanctioned by the FAA.

TN: Dickson drone pilots provide picture of future

marty

Josh Arntz, The Dickson Herald

In the not so distant past, the angles and perspectives with hobby photography often were limited to the tallest structure the photographer could climb in the vicinity, unless he boarded some type of aircraft.

Two local shutterbugs however, recently began exploring opportunities for aerial photography with drones, and noted the possibilities for image perspectives and drone use seemingly are endless.

James Bendall, photographer for The Herald, suspected drones will be powerful enough to move logs and people in the future.

“It’s just a new technology and a new industry,” he said. “I think it’s really going to take off.”

Marty Allison, also a Herald photographer, described the applications as “almost endless.”

“I’ve told several people that if I were any type of contractor or building inspector, police departments, I would definitely have one,” Allison said. “I would much rather fly a drone over a location to search for a possible suspect than put an officer in harm’s way.”

Bendall described an infrared, night vision camera specially made for drones that would be applicable in “all kinds of connotations,” like search and rescue scenarios, firefighting, criminal pursuits, etc.

“There’s just going to be so many uses for drones,” Bendall said, “and as their uses increase, I would imagine so will their complexity and their size.”

Drone investment

Bendall purchased his first drone for photography “a little over” a year ago. Technological upgrades prompted him to buy his current model, the DJI Phantom 3, which comes with a built-in 4K camera system.

With his first drone, Bendall explained he had to buy a camera (GoPro) separately and attach it to the aircraft, but he couldn’t see what he was filming.

“I basically had to do gun runs, and hope that I got what I wanted to get on camera,” Bendall said.

The Phantom 3 employs a mobile device – such as a smartphone or tablet – to display altitude, distance, speed, camera settings, battery charge, mapping features, etc.

“You control everything on the smart phone,” said Allison, who also has a DJI Phantom 3. “Everything’s done on that screen.”

Allison explained his iPhone attached to the drone’s remote control simulates being in the “cockpit.”

“You can see whatever the drone is seeing,” he said. “So it has a remote control that you attach your smart device to and that gives you your visual.”

Bendall reported another “significant upgrade” from his previous drone was the new aircraft’s flight range, up to a mile and a half distance from the previous 1,000-meter maximum.

“It can get up in the air and you lose sight of it from the ground,” Allison said. “It’s got a pretty good range.”

Bendall noted the average height he’ll hover the drone for a photo is about 200 feet.

The drone is controlled by GPS, Bendall explained, which makes it “really stable” and able to compensate for and cut through cross winds.

“Also if you were to put the drone in a hover, you can walk to it, and you can grab it by the landing gear and you can try and pull it in any direction, and it will fight to stay where you put it in a hover at,” he added.

The drone is “really easy” to operate, Allison noted, and “way smoother” than he anticipated.

“It’s way faster than I thought,” Allison said. “I think it flies 30-35 mph.”

The one drawback has been battery life, he added.

Drone photography

Allison’s drone also has had a slight drawback for his handheld photography.

“Right now the biggest effect is that I’m finding myself not wanting to use a traditional camera, because I’m just having fun with this new toy,” he said. “It’s been kind of addictive.”

Allison got his drone about a month ago.

“Sports was my main focus and purpose,” he explained. “When I thought about getting one a few years ago, I used to shoot for some golf publications and they would always run overhead shots of different holes and so that was one of my first visions, was golf.”

Allison considered high school football games too.

“And when I started getting serious about it, I kept thinking Week Zero football overhead shot Dickson versus Creek Wood,” he said.

Allison’s interest in drones arose from his interest in aerial photography.

“But the cost of actually getting in an airplane or helicopter is prohibitive,” he noted, “and so I started tracking the technology advances in these drones.”

After two years of research, Allison said, “I was finally satisfied with something that was fairly affordable that would put out quality work and I could take it out pretty much any time I wanted to just for different perspective on taking photos.”

Filming a subject from a different perspective attracted Bendall to the drone too.

“Really and truly for me it’s just a new camera platform,” Bendall said. “It’s a new way to take pictures and get pictures and get camera angles that I never have been able to get before, because I was stuck on the ground.”

Bendall acknowledged the image snapped by a drone almost appears to be 3D, where viewers can see multiple angles of the subject as opposed to the typical one or two sides taken by a handheld camera.

“You get a more detailed, vivid image,” Bendall added.

Among the “new effects” Bendall has noticed with drone photography is the reflection of clouds on water.

“It’s just a unique view that most people don’t get to see,” Allison said.

Future of drones

Allison and Bendall reported receiving mostly positive reactions from the community when they’re out flying their drones. People are curious about the drone and want to talk about it.

“I had it at the Creek Wood-Dickson County (football) game and I had several people tell me that they, instead of watching the game itself, once they knew it was in the air they were watching the drone,” Allison said, “so it’s been well-received.”

The “negative comments” Bendall has heard have centered on flying over another person’s property, he reported, “and I respect that.”

“Even though you may have a drone that has a camera attached to it, you still need to follow the rule of the law and respect somebody’s expectation of privacy,” Bendall said.

Bendall and Allison acknowledged few regulations for drone flight, and foresaw stricter guidelines in the future.

Both cited recent instances of drones hindering wildfire containment efforts out west, as an example of irresponsible use.

“As a news agency, we would probably fit into a different category (of regulation),” Allison posited, “but just for the common drone owner, the more that people get these in their hands, I see regulations coming down heavy.”

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/dickson/2015/09/01/dickson-drone-pilots-provide-picture-future/71509494/v

After Government’s Greenlight, Commercial Drones Set To Take Off

Tom Gorner, founder of Skyscape Services, flies his drone in the backyard of his Virginia home. His company uses the drone to photograph real estate for prospective buyers.

Tom Gorner, founder of Skyscape Services, flies his drone in the backyard of his Virginia home. His company uses the drone to photograph real estate for prospective buyers.

Brian Naylor/NPR

Stories about how Amazon and Google want to deliver packages using drones have gotten a lot of attention. But in fact, some 1,300 businesses and individuals have already received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to use drones for commercial purposes — everything from selling real estate to inspecting utility lines. But their operators are worried that recreational drone users who have been flying their vehicles near aircraft may spoil the party.

In the backyard of Tom Gorner’s suburban Virginia home one recent morning, the sky was blue and clear as Gorner prepared to launch his drone (or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle as they’re sometimes known). He held the controller, which looks not unlike a video game controller with two joy sticks —one to control the device’s altitude, one for direction. He toggles a switch and the drone begins to beep.

“You’ll see underneath here just like a plane there are red lights and green lights; they’re all designated to mean something,” he said.

Gorner is founder of Skyscape Services; his company uses the drone to photograph real estate for prospective buyers, and golf courses to lure new members. The drone is equipped with a small video camera and can send images down to his laptop or iPad.

Like Gorner’s drone, the commercial UAV industry is taking off too. There is lot of potential for commercial drone use, said Rose Mooney, executive director of the Mid Atlantic Aviation Partnership, which the FAA has designated as a test site for drones. “Things like search-and-rescue, and roof inspection, things where people are actually getting hurt today. Even things like news gathering for traffic,” he said. Mooney called them “dull, dirty, dangerous jobs,” but said they are just the initial step in making drone use “the next pioneering technology in aviation.”

But with the optimism, there is cause for concern; specifically the alarming rise in the number of close calls between recreationally-flown drones and other aircraft. There have been more than 700 sightings of drones by aircraft pilots so far this year, according to the FAA, involving everything from commercial jets to aerial fire fighters.

Matt Scassero, director of the University of Maryland’s drone test site warns that “if one person has a major mishap or just the sheer number of incidents continues to grow, it’s going to give the entire industry a bad name.” So the industry is trying to increase public outreach and education “so folks know what the rules are and they operate responsibly.”

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told NPR recently he too is worried about what he calls the dramatic upswing in sightings of wayward drones. “The whole idea of these drones coming into conflict with other aircraft is something that I’m extremely concerned about. There are a lot of people operating model unmanned aircraft with little or no aviation experience,” Huerta said. “They’re buying them at hobby shops. They’re buying them at camera stores. So the whole concept of what are the rules of the air is a very new thing to them.”

Huerta said it comes down to education and enforcement. The FAA is beta testing an app called “b4ufly” that will enable recreational drone users to find out if they’re operating within a restricted area — within five miles of an airport. Recreation drones are also supposed to stay below 400 feet and away from stadiums. And he says violators can be fined up to tens of thousands of dollars.

Tom Gorner, who’s company like all commercial users had to hire a pilot to fly its drone, said he’s frustrated by those who act maliciously. He says “it’s not helping the people who want to do this … for a business or a hobby even, that just want to fly safely.”

After a drone landed on the White House lawn some months ago, its manufacturer DJI, which also made Gorner’s drone, updated the operating system so that it won’t fly in restricted airspace.

Now there are calls to equip all drones with similar technology.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/01/436367266/after-governments-greenlight-commercial-drones-set-to-take-off

UK: Scunthorpe man flying high after launching new business operating drones

 Scunthorpe Telegraph  |  Posted: August 30, 2015

Richard Gill with his drone

A SCUNTHORPE-born man is flying high after launching a new company specialising in operating drones.

Richard Gill, operations director at Ocuair, has seen the potential in the unmanned air vehicles (UAV), which captures images with either a video camera or a still picture camera on board.

Ocuair specialises in operating drones in the media and industrial sectors and describes itself as “the UK’s leading responsible commercial UAV operator”.

Earlier this month, it filmed at the Party in the Pines festival near Appleby.

 Mr Gill, 35, originally of Bottesford, said the technology was something he looked at a year ago.

“I thought there was huge growth here,” he said.

“Drone videos are all over the place at the moment.

“My drone costs £10,000 and we have had to go through a lot of training.

“We are one of the only companies in the UK to put a proper thermal camera on a drone.

“This technology is useful in inspecting roofs, wind turbines or industrial sites.

“Being able to put a high resolution camera in a place where you would normally have to send a person is not only much more cost effective, but dramatically reduces risk to people.”

Mr Gill said the company has had interest from the emergency services and it is also doing a lot of work with mapping.

The drone industry is forecast to be worth £80 billion per year by 2020 and has the potential to employ 20,000 people in the UK alone.

Drones have recently hit the national headlines over privacy issues, but Mr Gill said this is a much larger debate.

“If you think about it, the biggest threat to privacy is Facebook and mobile phones,” he said.

Mr Gill attended St Bede’s and John Leggott College before studying Chemical Engineering at Leeds University.

After university, he joined the Army and served for 12 years as an officer in the Royal Logistics Corps, including tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has now launched his business in Retford.

Mr Gill said it would be great to be able to develop some of the industry in North Lincolnshire area with the growth of offshore wind drones offering a way to conduct risk-free inspections.

Visit ocuair.co.uk for more details.

How this newly formed Jacksonville drone company plans to separate itself from the pack

Jennsen Werley

Aeritek uses an S900 drone with a DSLR camera attached. A pilot and a camera operator can… more

As drones in Jacksonville steadily become more popular, at least one new company believes it has a simple plan to stay unique in the crowd.

“It’s our quality of work and customer service,” said Grant Ward, one of the co-founders of Aeritek, the Jacksonville-based drone company formed last year.

Aeritek, or Aerial Imaging Technology, recently received its Federal Aviation Administration Section 333 exemption, which means it has permission to use drones for commercial work. Already, it has completed a major five-day video project for Dutch shipping company Spliethoff, filming the company’s ship docked at Savannah for a promotional and training video.

Using a six-rotor DJI S900 drone, valued at about $12,000, Aeritek can shoot video in 4K and photos at 12 megapixels.

But Aeritek isn’t just settling for commercial photography. Kevin Barth, the company’s other co-founder and vice president of flight operations, said the group’s main goal is to get into mapping, where customers such as farmers can use a drone to collect data on their field, have that data analyzed and learn what portions of their acreage may need more chemicals or fertilizers.

“We want to be a one-stop shop,” Barth said. “Where you can buy, we can build and customize for you. We can help with support and maintenance. And we can process the data and produce a meaningful report.”

That part of Aeritek’s business model is less than six months from its debut, as the company finishes its final touches on the program before rolling it out to customers.

“We’re developing a turnkey operation,” Ward said. “We want to give them the whole package.”

In the meantime, both men are planning to use their expertise and experience to not only shape their company, but also to shape the new industry of commercial drones.

Ward, a long-time photographer with a background in electronics engineering, has been flying unmanned craft for years. He started with radio-controlled helicopters before he began building his own drones.

Barth is a graduate of Jacksonville University’s aviation management program, and forms the company’s flight plans. He said his interest is in forming policy, and hopes Aeritek can be one of the pioneers to help write drone policy and regulations.

“The technology is there,” he said. “The policy and infrastructure just need to be developed.”

Aeritek uses an S900 drone with a DSLR camera attached. A pilot and a camera operator can… more

As drones in Jacksonville steadily become more popular, at least one new company believes it has a simple plan to stay unique in the crowd.

“It’s our quality of work and customer service,” said Grant Ward, one of the co-founders of Aeritek, the Jacksonville-based drone company formed last year.

That quality of work — made possible by the more expensive, heavier multi-rotor drones carrying digital single-lens reflex cameras the company uses for photos and videos — is getting notice.
Aeritek, or Aerial Imaging Technology, recently received its Federal Aviation Administration Section 333 exemption, which means it has permission to use drones for commercial work. Already, it has completed a major five-day video project for Dutch shipping company Spliethoff, filming the company’s ship docked at Savannah for a promotional and training video.

Using a six-rotor DJI S900 drone, valued at about $12,000, Aeritek can shoot video in 4K and photos at 12 megapixels.

But Aeritek isn’t just settling for commercial photography. Kevin Barth, the company’s other co-founder and vice president of flight operations, said the group’s main goal is to get into mapping, where customers such as farmers can use a drone to collect data on their field, have that data analyzed and learn what portions of their acreage may need more chemicals or fertilizers.

“We want to be a one-stop shop,” Barth said. “Where you can buy, we can build and customize for you. We can help with support and maintenance. And we can process the data and produce a meaningful report.”

That part of Aeritek’s business model is less than six months from its debut, as the company finishes its final touches on the program before rolling it out to customers.

“We’re developing a turnkey operation,” Ward said. “We want to give them the whole package.”

In the meantime, both men are planning to use their expertise and experience to not only shape their company, but also to shape the new industry of commercial drones.

Ward, a long-time photographer with a background in electronics engineering, has been flying unmanned craft for years. He started with radio-controlled helicopters before he began building his own drones.

Barth is a graduate of Jacksonville University’s aviation management program, and forms the company’s flight plans. He said his interest is in forming policy, and hopes Aeritek can be one of the pioneers to help write drone policy and regulations.

“The technology is there,” he said. “The policy and infrastructure just need to be developed.”

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2015/08/28/how-this-newly-formed-jacksonville-drone-company.html#i1

Drone companies flourishing in the Flathead (Montana)

By Seaborn Larson/The Daily Inter Lake

When people spot an unmanned aerial vehicle, more commonly known as a drone, it can be unnerving for some who wonder if they’re under surveillance or what the hovering contraption is doing overhead.

Jeff Scholl predicts that in just a few years, these unmanned aerial vehicles will be such as common as birds flying through the sky.

Scholl, the chief pilot for Gravity Shots, has been working in aerial cinematography since the 1990s. His career has taken him around the world (except Russia) as he has mastered piloting these small, precision aircraft for production companies.

Gravity Shots, located on Montana 40 near Whitefish, is primarily a production company, shooting high-resolution aerial footage for television production companies such as The History Channel, ESPN and Fox News.

“They call me the drone guy,” Scholl said. “I’m a freelancer and sometimes I’m just another crew member on these jobs.”

His wife, Adele, handles the controls of the gimbal, the mechanism that controls the camera angle and stability while the drone is airborne. Adele came to Montana by way of Colorado, having moved for school from Virginia.

“Women are a huge minority in the film industry,” she said. “It’s kind of foreign to show up on set and gain a different respect from the crew and producers. But Montana is the prettiest place we’ve filmed and that’s why we live here.”

Adele is the chief camera operator and video and photograph editor for Gravity Shots. The website lists her as a pilot-in-training as well.

Jeff started Gravity Shots nearly 16 years ago. His father flew F-18s, so he grew up in the aviation community. A cameraman since owning his first Polaroid camera at the age of 9, Scholl wanted to get a better view from up above.

As the modern unmanned aerial vehicle emerged, Scholl was among the pioneers who kept cinematography attached to the product. He said he could remember a time when he could count all the drone production pilots in the country on one hand. In the last two years, he said, the technology has grown exponentially. Several companies send new, sometimes prototype models to Scholl to test before they are released on the market.

“Every time you turn around there’s a new model,” Scholl said while piloting a Freefly Alta model that was released just two weeks ago. “Give it another week, and they’ll probably have made a Chinese knockoff [of this model] somewhere.”

The rise of commercial drones led to a host of federal regulations that define where and at what altitude commercial unmanned aerial vehicles are allowed. These regulations are constantly being amended. Since fall of 2014 drone pilots need to obtain a Section 333 exemption grant, certificate of operation, aircraft registration and airman piloting certificate all with the Federal Aviation Administration before piloting an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Hobbyists don’t require the 333 exemption, but have tighter regulations. They must fly under 400 feet, can’t fly within a 3-mile range of an airport and must keep the aircraft within sight of the pilot.

Commercial pilot restrictions are similar, but they are allowed to fly up to 1,200 feet.

“In the past, it was just the Wild West; no one knew what was going on,” Scholl said. “What they were trying to do was lump this toy helicopter in with full-scale aircraft. But a judge said, ‘if that’s true, then a paper airplane is an aircraft.’

“What happens now is the 333 has become a requirement to work on the job,” he added.

The reason for regulations is airspace.

Scholl said it’s usually the hobbyists who are involved with collisions with airplanes or helicopters. Commercial pilots, he said, don’t have much interest in sending a drone 8,000 feet into the air.

It’s almost standard now, Scholl said, for a production company to have a fully licensed unmanned aerial vehicle pilot on staff. With advancements in design and functionality, Scholl has been able to maintain the work that gets him the bigger jobs. The design has been advancing in the direction of lighter drones, longer battery life and a better stabilization for cameras.

The gimbal is a gyro-stabilizing mechanism that holds the camera beneath the drone. Even while Scholl swings the drone from side to side, the monitor held by Adele shows a smooth camera motion that maintains its focus.

“Before this system it would all be throw-away footage,” he said. “Now it’s smooth and professional; it’s very easy.”

Another strong change in the design is the ability to quickly fold up and move to the next shooting spot. Staying mobile has been Scholl’s goal.

“Most of my stuff is jumping on a snowmobile or four-wheeler,” Scholl said. “The best part about where we operate is we can test things like flight time or how these cameras operate in the cold or heat.”

Recently the Scholls have been contracted to take photographs for local real estate companies.

The company has been contracted for much larger productions such as a commercial that recently brought Scholl to Florida to fly drones between skyscrapers in Miami.

The growing interest in drones has created a retail market for them, even in the Flathead Valley.

Quadrocopter, of which Scholl is a part owner, is a retail company that sells several models of unmanned aerial vehicles, flight training, and multi-rotor upgrade and repairs. The company, which shares space with Gravity shots at the Montana 40 location, was started in 2006 by Adam Paugh and Florian Seeger. Needing a licensed pilot, Quadrocopter owners signed Scholl into the company as its chief pilot in 2010.

Matt Ragan, a pilot for Quadrocopter and his own company, Bird’s Eye of Big Sky, brought his unmanned aerial vehicles to the Northwest Montana Fair to film the rodeo.

Quadrocopter soon will offer its services in Los Angeles and New York, rather than shuttling clients to Kalispell for flight training.

The increasing functionality of drones is emerging every day. Amazon has said it hopes to use drones to deliver items to consumers.

Lifeguards may soon be able to fly a flotation device out to a struggling swimmer via a drone.

“The military probably isn’t going to develop another fighter with a pilot inside,” Scholl said. “Why would they?”

In a year, Scholl believes the 333 exemption will be outdated, as the Federal Aviation Administration may just require some form of piloting experience. For now, Scholl is simply enjoying the ride as the market takes off.

“Plus, it’s just fun,” he said. “Every day is in adventure.”

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/business_and_finance/local_montana/drone-companies-flourishing-in-the-flathead/article_547f76fc-4ea6-11e5-bdf3-4bf2cb1f8e5d.html

 

Here’s why Intel can’t stop investing in drone companies

IntelBusiness Insider screenshot of Intel videoIntel CEO Brian Krzanich spies a drone

Intel has got a thing for drones.

The world’s largest chipmaker announced this week that it invested $60 million in a Chinese drone-maker, marking its third drone investment to date.

What’s does Intel see in unmanned aerial vehicles ?

The flying machines are packed with the kinds of sophisticated chips that Intel sells and the popularity of drones makes them an attractive new market for Intel to get a foothold in as its traditional PC business continues to decline.

Processors, WiFi chips and Bluetooth chips can all be used in drones, explains Mike Hung, an analyst with research firm Gartner. Because drones are equipped with technology such as high-definition video cameras for recording, there’s also a role for powerful graphics chips, he explained.

Still, while drones are a sexy market in the emerging “Internet of Things” sector, they won’t drive significant growth for the tech company in the near future, nor will drones replace all of Intel’s lost PC revenue, Hung noted.

“The drone market isn’t going to become as large or profitable as the PC market for another decade, if ever,” Hung told Business Insider. “But it’s got good proof points: it serves large networks the way Facebook is looking at it, [it  can be used for] smart farming purposes, it monitors cell towers, and there’s recreational uses like recording your kid’s softball games. While the drone market isn’t as sizeable as PC or smartphone, its tech can be used for a lot of other purposes.”

According to a CB Insights report conducted earlier in May, drones startups are in vogue: they raised a record breaking $172 million in equity financing so far this year. Commercial usage for drones has been enjoying speedy growth, compounding more than 3 times as much as military use at 19 percent between 2015 to 2020.

Intel has already invested in two other drone companies, Airware and Precisionhawk.

In a video announcing Intel’s latest $60 million investment in Hong Kong-based drone and aerospace company Yuneec, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said future product collaborations between the two companies will hopefully be a “gamechanger in the drone industry”.

Users will soon be able to open a box containing a little drone, controller and built-in screen. They would be able to fly the unmanned aerial vehicles using Android smartphones, and laypeople would be able to control them within five minutes of unboxing the product.

But while Intel is opening its wallet to show its love for drones, Gartner’s Hung noted that the company is unlikely to ever build and sell its own drone. Intel doesn’t like to sell “end-products” he noted, and will be content providing the innards for the new machines.

Update: Intel invests $60 million in Chinese drone maker Yuneec

Yunnec

Intel has poured more than $60 million into Yuneec International Co., a Shanghai-based drone and aerospace company, as a broad range of technology companies investigate the possible commercial uses of unmanned aircraft.

Venture capitalists and companies are investing in drone technology on the expectation that unmanned aerial vehicles will prove beneficial for consumers and industrial customers. Amazon.com and Google are developing drones to deliver products to consumers. Yuneec’s Chinese rival SZ DJI Technology Co. raised $75 million from Accel Partners in May.


“At Intel we believe in a smart and connected world. And one of the best ways to bring that smart and connected world to everyone and everywhere has been drones,” Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said in a video announcing the investment by Intel Capital. “We’ve got drones on our road map that are going to truly change the world and revolutionize the drone industry.”Intel and Yuneec will work on developing future products, the companies said Wednesday. Yuneec makes drones for consumers and industrial users, as well as manned electric aircraft. Intel declined to provide further details on the collaboration. The Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor company has also invested in drone companies Airware and PrecisionHawk.

The Yuneec relationship fits with Intel’s strategy to make investments in companies developing products with the potential to expand the market for semiconductors, as the company searches for new devices for chips. Intel’s drone funding is similar to its investments in next-generation data center software companies such as Mirantis and Cloudera.

– Bloomberg News

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2015/08/intel_invests_60_million_in_ch.html