DJI and Accel, and Airware, both reveal new drone funds

Skyfund and Commercial Drone Fund will both invest at least $250,000 in drone companies

We've already seen funding for drone companies shoot up in 2014, more than doubling what they had done the year before. Expect that number to continue to grow in 2015, which now has two more funds dedicated solely to this space.

The first fund is a collaboration between Chinese drone making company DJI and venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Earlier this month, Accel invested $75 million in DJI, one the largest single investments ever made by Accel, which valued the company at $10 billion. The two sides also hinted at a deeper collaboration, which it said would be revealed in the coming weeks.

Well know we know that that partnership is all about. It has resulted in Skyfund, which was announced on Wednesday, a fund that will invest solely in drone, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UVAs). 

It will invest at least $250,000 in early-stage companies in the following categories: robotics and machine intelligence, software, computer vision and navigation, multimedia communities and tools, services and more. SkyFund will have a particular focus on those entrepreneurs and developers who are building on the DJI SDK.

Companies that receive an investment from Skyfund will also get product and technical resources from DJI, access to preferred demos and beta programs and co-branding opportunities.

So far there do not seem to have been any investments made.

Not to be outdone, Airware, the creator of a hardware, software, and cloud services platform for commercial drone development, and the most funded drone company, until DJI's raise this month that is, has also announced its own drone investment fund, called Commercial Drone Fund, on Wednesday.

It will make investments in five key areas: sensor hardware, software applications, cloud-based aerial data analysis tools, drone-based services, and complete solutions for specific industries. 

Investments will be between $250,000 to $1 million in early-stage companies over the next two to three years in the commercial drone ecosystem. Many of the companies funded by the Commercial Drone Fund will be using Airware’s Aerial Information Platform, though the company makes sure to not that "it is not a requirement for funding."

Airware’s CEO, Jonathan Downey, will be the fund’s General Partner, but the fund is a separate legal entity from Airware, and Airware will not be an investor.

Most impressively, the company has already made its first two investments.

The first is in Redbird, a company that analyzes data from small civilian drones. That company previously raised €2 million from GDF Suez New Ventures in April. The other is London-based Sky-Futures, which uses drones to help monitor and inspect oil and gas facilities. That company raised a £2.5 million round earlier this month. 

The drone space

Overall, $108 million was invested in a total of 29 deals during 2014. The number of deals have jumped very quickly in just the last couple of years; a total of just five deals were done in the years spanning 2010 to 2012 combined, while 11 were completed in the third quarter of 2014 alone.

Other drone companies that have raised money so far in 2015 include Skydio, which raised $3 million seed funding in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz with Accel Partners participating; Skyward, an information management platform for commercial drone operators, raised a $4.1 million round from Draper Associates, Founders Co-Op, Moment Ventures,Norwest Venture Partners, Techstars Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and Voyager Capital; and Clear Flight Solutions, creator of “robird” drones that mimic the flight of peregrine falcons, which raised €1.6 million ($1.7 million) from Cottonwood Euro Technology Fund.

(Image sources: forbes.com)