Altitude Angel, the world’s leading UTM technology provider, announced it raised a further £4m ($5.3m US) from one of Europe’s largest VC investors, Octopus Ventures.
The latest fundraising concludes Altitude Angel’s series A round, led by Octopus Ventures and existing investor Seraphim Capital. It also brings the total invested in Altitude Angel in 2020 to £7.05m ($9.4m)
UTM is the platform which will allow UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, sometimes called drones) and manned aircraft to operate harmoniously in shared skies. Through the widespread adoption of UTM platforms, governments and authorities will be able to begin building the super-highways of the future – networks of interlinking drone corridors which will revolutionise the transportation of goods; from medical supplies and fast-food deliveries to ‘Amazon-like’ parcel drop off and collections.
The investment will allow Altitude Angel to capitalise on its reputation as the world’s leader in developing and deploying local and national UTM platforms, allowing it to further expand its international presence and in doing so, accelerate the safe and secure use of drones in skies across the globe. Following the opening of its Dutch HQ in September, the company will be opening offices local to its international partners in addition to increasing its presence in markets promoting UTM growth through H1 2021.
Octopus Ventures’ Zoë Chambers will join the Altitude Angel board, which is chaired by former Microsoft executive Pieter Knook.
This latest investment follows Altitude Angel’s announcement in September it would be opening the world’s first commercial drone super-highway in open and unrestricted airspace in the Thames Valley, to the west of London, in 2021. The corridor uses Altitude Angel’s “Arrow” technology.
Operated and managed by Altitude Angel, the site will be available to support fully automated drone flights beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) from any drone company which completes a series of basic technical integrations which, crucially, don’t require specialist hardware on-board the drone.
