Nationality American Occupation Entrepreneur | Name Jonathan Downey | |
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Born November 8, 1983 (age 40) ( 1983-11-08 ) Employer Founder and CEO of Airware Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
Jonathan downey navigates future of drones
Airware (incorporated as Unmanned Innovation, Inc.) is an American venture-funded startup that provides commercial unmanned aerial vehicles for enterprises. Airware was founded in 2011 in Newport Beach, California, by Jonathan Downey. The company relocated to San Francisco in January 2014.
Contents
- Jonathan downey navigates future of drones
- A bar crawl with jonathan downey 2015 spirited awards lifetime achievement award recipient
- History
- Products and services
- References
The company produces enterprise drones which combine hardware, on-aircraft and mobile software, and cloud services. Downey has stated the company is focused on building systems for drones for commercial uses, including anti-poaching efforts, infrastructure inspections, and precision agriculture.
A bar crawl with jonathan downey 2015 spirited awards lifetime achievement award recipient
History
Airware was founded by Downey in 2011 out of a frustration with the "inflexible and costly" autopilot systems for unmanned aircraft. Airware was incubated at both Lemnos Labs and Y Combinator. The company has raised $70 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Next World Capital, First Round Capital, Google Ventures, Intel Capital and GE Ventures. In March 2016, the company announced a $30 million Series C round of financing led by Next World Capital with Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Cisco Systems executive chairman John T. Chambers. Andreessen Horowitz partner Martin Casado, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mike Abbott, and John T. Chambers are members of the company’s board. In 2015, Airware launched a new venture fund for commercial drones to support "scaling the use of drones across a variety of commercial applications." Airware purchased Redbird, a drone analytics software company, in 2016.
Products and services
Airware offers enterprise drone services combining hardware, on-aircraft and mobile software, and cloud services for industries like mining, insurance, and construction. Airware offers navigation software for drones, table software to guide and monitors drones in flight, and cloud services to store and manage the information gathered by drones. Where most software is designed for specific models of drones, Airware is developing a platform that enables compatibility across aircraft. The company previously collaborated with commercial drone manufacturers to integrate its autopilot hardware and software, but now consults directly with enterprise clients to identify solutions and to ensure regulatory compliance.