Airware, a Newport Beach startup that makes operating system software for commercial drones, raised $10.7 million in its first funding round.
Menlo Park venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A financing, with other backers including Google Ventures. Chris Dixon, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, will join the company’s board.
The funding will enable Airware to meet rising production demand in the fast-growing global market of commercially operated drones. The company is integrating its technology into drones for commercial companies in a variety of uses, from rhino poaching prevention in Kenya and vaccine delivery to remote areas in Africa and Southeast Asia, to skier search and rescue and open-air mining operations in France.
The U.S. government has yet to approve commercial drones to fly over domestic air space.
―Chris Casacchia
