Boeing HorizonX Ventures Helps Fund Kittyhawk
Boeing participated in a $5 million funding round in early June for Kittyhawk, an enterprise drone solutions company that has now raised $6.5 million in capital since its 2015 founding. Boeing participated via Boeing HorizonX Ventures, its investment arm for funding companies that specialize in technologies for aerospace and manufacturing innovations. Boeing says Kittyhawk offers a unified approach to safely operating commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Kittyhawk's technology will help develop a UAS Traffic Management System (UTM) that enables piloted and autonomous air vehicles to coexist safely, Boeing states. Bonfire Ventures and Freestyle Capital also participated in Kittyhawk’s latest funding round.
One Platform
Kittyhawk recently formed a partnership with Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen to expand unmanned operations through participation in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) initiative, described as a “collaborative effort to create UTM processes that integrate unmanned aircraft, cargo delivery, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations safely into the airspace.”
Boeing says Kittyhawk “pioneered enterprise software and mobile-based apps” by integrating real-time UAS flight operations and management solutions into one platform. Kittyhawk’s customer base includes media, insurance, energy, rail transportation, and fire and emergency management agencies, and others that it supplies with end-to-end drone operations. Brian Schettler, managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures, says that when paired with Boeing’s portfolio of complementary data service offerings, Kittyhawk is set to help “shape the future of safe autonomous flight."
Skill Versus Profession
On its website, Kittyhawk says it “recognized early on that enterprises were moving drone programs in-house and that piloting a drone would become a skill, rather than a profession.” Kittyhawk says enterprises seeking an in-house drone program have faced a diverse and ever-changing array of “apps, license agreements, support procedures, and data-security concerns” related to using multiple vendors. Kittyhawk’s enterprise solution “unifies the mission, the aircraft, and the data” to let companies manage in-house commercial drone operations.
Joshua Ziering, Kittyhawk founder and chief pilot, says Boeing’s aviation expertise and resources will help advance Kittyhawk’s enterprise offerings. Boeing will also help Kittyhawk continue an effort to “create robust, open, and interoperable standards to empower the commercial drone industry,” he says. “We have a unique opportunity to pioneer a new aviation industry and having the support of Boeing will give Kittyhawk the resources and expertise we need to be truly disruptive in this space."
In addition to its Boeing HorizonX Ventures efforts, Boeing is a leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft and business jets. Controller.com has numerous pre-owned Boeing jets for sale, including 727, 737, 757, 777, 747, and Boeing Business Jets aircraft.
Source: Boeing
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