Drones are changing the workflow for many providers of wireless infrastructure, but not all drones are helpful. Unmanned aerial vehicles can be used to photograph sensitive information, disrupt air traffic, smuggle weapons into prisons, and support terrorist activities.
Recognizing that drones are not welcome in all environments, Dedrone developed software that can detect the presence of a drone. Dedrone’s software platform detects aerial intrusions and provides early warning. The company is marketing its solution to data centers, prisons, airports and other facilities where drones are not wanted. Dedrone’s software was used last year at the presidential debates, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
This week Dedrone said it has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Felicis Ventures and by Cisco executive chairman John Chambers, who has personally invested in the company. The company said it will use the new capital to increase marketing and sales efforts, as well as research and development. Dedrone is headquartered in San Francisco, with production, research and development in Kassel, Germany.
“Dedrone’s unique approach to use existing sensors and a powerful machine learning platform empowers enterprise and federal customers to re-gain control of their airspace,” said Chambers in a statement. “Drones have given people the ability to go places where they have never been before and at times, circumnavigate traditional physical and cyber security installations.”
Deutsche Telekom, Singtel and Airbus are all Dedrone resellers. Deutsche Telekom, which owns a majority stake in T-Mobile US, markets the anti-drone service to business customers under the name Magenta drone defense shield. In addition to the Dedrone technology, the solution portfolio also includes a frequency scanner from Rohde & Schwarz, microphone arrays from Squarehead, radar equipment from Robin Radar Systems, and jammer technology from HP Wüst.
In addition to Chambers, Dedrone has enlisted a number of other high profile investors. Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, Selina Lo, CEO of Ruckus Wireless, Hans Robertson, co-founder and COO of Meraki, Tom Noonan, former chairman, president and CEO of Internet Security Systems, and Trevor Healy, former CEO of Jajah and Amobee, are all Dedrone investors.
Follow me on Twitter.
