Drone company Airware raises $30 million and adds Cisco's John Chambers to its board (CSCO)

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Airware, a company that once sold drone operating systems, is changing course.

The company is expanding to sell drone hardware and software, and even wants to step into the cloud where the data travels. And Airware just took a big step toward that goal by raising $30 million a Series C funding round, along with the addition of longtime Cisco CEO John Chambers to its board, reports TechCrunch.

Next World Capital, which helps startups expand into Europe, led the funding round. Airware wants to move into Europe next.

Airware noticed that large enterprise companies did not know how to assemble drone systems on their own, which led to slow adoption of tech that could save money.

The company has attracted State Farm as a new enterprise client. The insurance giant will use Airware's drones to replace roof insurance claim adjusters, who would have to climb ladders or uses ropes and harnesses to assess damaged homes.

Airware used to have to wait until a customer bought drones, which it could then enhance with its operating system. But now the company can sell the entire drone bundle to customers by buying the proper drones from the manufacturers and then upgrading them with Airware software.

Drones turned the corner in 2015 to become a popular consumer device, while a framework for regulation that legitimizes drones in the US began to take shape. Technological and regulatory barriers still exist to further drone adoption.

Drone manufacturers and software providers are quickly developing technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance that will make flying drones safer. The accelerating pace of drone adoption is also pushing governments to create new regulations that balance safety and innovation.

Safer technology and better regulation will open up new applications for drones in the commercial sector, including drone delivery programs like Amazon’s Prime Air and Google’s Project Wing initiatives.

Jonathan Camhi, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed drones report that forecasts sales revenues for consumer, enterprise, and military drones. It also projects the growth of drone shipments for consumers and enterprises.

The report details several of world’s major drone suppliers and examines trends in drone adoption among several leading industries. Finally, it examines the regulatory landscape in several markets and explains how technologies like obstacle avoidance and drone-to-drone communications will impact drone adoption.

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Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• We project revenues from drones sales to top $12 billion in 2021, up from just over $8 billion last year.
• Shipments of consumer drones will more than quadruple over the next five years, fueled by increasing price competition and new technologies that make flying drones easier for beginners.
• Growth in the enterprise sector will outpace the consumer sector in both shipments and revenues as regulations open up new use cases in the US and EU, the two biggest potential markets for enterprise drones.
• Technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance will make flying drones safer and make regulators feel more comfortable with larger numbers of drones taking to the skies.
• Right now FAA regulations have limited commercial drones to a select few industries and applications like aerial surveying in the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas sectors.
• The military sector will continue to lead all other sectors in drone spending during our forecast period thanks to the high cost of military drones and the growing number of countries seeking to acquire them.

In full, the report:

• Compares drone adoption across the consumer, enterprise, and government sectors.
• Breaks down drone regulations across several key markets and explains how they’ve impacted adoption.
• Discusses popular use cases for drones in the enterprise sector, as well as nascent use case that are on the rise.
• Analyzes how different drone manufacturers are trying to differentiate their offerings with better hardware and software components.
• Explains how drone manufacturers are quickly enabling autonomous flight in their products that will be a major boon for drone adoption.

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