Volansi, a pioneer in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) middle-mile drone delivery services, has announced the closing of a US$50m Series B round of funding.
Led by Icon Ventures, the company says that other financing participants included existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and YCombinator, as well as new investors Harpoon Ventures and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. In addition to the conclusion of its funding effort, Volansi also announced Joe Horowitz, managing partner of Icon, and Barry Eggers, founding partner of Lightspeed, will join its board of directors.
The company specializes in autonomous, point-to-point drone delivery services for time-critical parts and urgent medical supplies, both for enterprise customers and the US Department of Defense. The company says the new funding will allow it to build on current momentum by expanding its team, launching new projects and scaling current initiatives in both emerging markets and the USA.
“The combination of our best in class cargo drones and unique software platform set us apart from others in the industry,” said Hannan Parvizian, CEO and co-founder of Volansi. “Closing our Series B with such high-quality investors, especially during these challenging times, is further testament to the venture capital community’s confidence in our business and will allow us to keep pushing the envelope of mobility and robotics.”
Noting that the market for drone-based delivery is already a congested on, Joe Horowitz of Icon stated, “The drone market is very crowded with all sorts of players, but after getting to know Hannan and his team and doing an extensive amount of due diligence, especially with Volansi’s key customers and distribution partners, it became abundantly clear that the company is well-positioned to rapidly build a huge business.
“We are particularly excited about Volansi’s unique ability to address the medical community with urgent vaccine delivery, particularly in looking ahead to a post-Covid world.”
Volansi recently developed and brought to market a range of autonomous drones, including the VOLY M20 and VOLY C10. The C10 is the workhorse of its UAV fleet; it is capable of carrying up to 10 lb (4.5kg) of cargo over 50 miles, and has already performed operations in Africa, the Caribbean, and the USA.
The M20 meanwhile is a dual-role aircraft with the ability to simultaneously carry up to 20 lb (9kg) of cargo in addition to 10 lb (4.5kg) of sensor payloads, over a 350-mile range, cruising at 75mph for up to eight hours.
Click here to watch a video about Volansi’s drone delivery services.