Top Drone Startups to Watch (and Work for) in 2023

My Background

Hi, I'm Kieran! I worked in startups for five years at On Deck and Wefunder. Some of my favorite things that I've worked on during my career include:

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Wefunder Workaway: 12 founders working on a new idea, 7 days, 1 mansion in Hawaii. One of the teams we picked raised a Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, and two people who met during the trip got married...

On Deck: As employee #15, I contributed to the startup's growth from no revenue to a $20 million run rate in less than a year. I led the team that built the admission infrastructure to support and scale ~20 fellowships for founders, capital allocators, operators, and creators.

XX: Worked on a pre-YC accelerator program that invested $125K on an MFN SAFE into 8-10 teams per cohort.

ODX: Worked on a $100 million accelerator program that invested $125K for 7% into 100s of startups. We partnered with leaders like Flexport to build vertical industry tracks around supply chain & logistics, etc.

Ryan Marketing: Created an influencer marketing startup (2 million+ Instagram followers) during college with my twin brother and realized early that monetization for creators was broken. I learned a lot, and it paid enough to cover my schooling, rent, and meals.

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The Methodology

I considered several data points to arrive at the startups selected on this list, including company traction, funding raised, valuation, and investors. From my initial list, I then referenced each startup with my personal network to narrow down the list to the one you see below. I take my credibility seriously, so I do not take any money from startups who want to be included on this list to remain impartial. If you want to understand my analysis of startups and prefer long-form content, read my research on the top startups of 2023 afterward.

Zipline

The world's largest autonomous delivery system, specializing in on-demand drone delivery and instant logistics.

Headquarters

South San Francisco, California

Industry

Logistics, Hardware, Drones

Founded

2014

Funding

$821 million

Valuation

$4.2 billion

Traction

As of May 2023, Zipline completed 600,000 autonomous delivers and is on pace to complete 1 million by year's end.

Zips can travel 70 mph to their destination.

Zipline’s fully electric aircraft fly with 97% fewer emissions than traditional delivery.

In 2021, Zipline was projected to deliver 2.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

By the halfway mark in 2021, Zipline signed service contracts with five distribution centers in Nigeria, four in Ghana, and multiple service contracts with hospitals in the United States.

Zipline customers include Walmart, GNC, Pagliacci Pizza, and Associated Couriers.

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Skydio

Professional drones and autonomous drones.

Headquarters

San Mateo, California

Industry

Drones

Founded

2014

Funding

$562 million

Valuation

$2.2 billion+

Traction

As of February 2023, Skydio is used by every branch of the US Department of Defense, over half of the US State Departments of Transportation, and 200+ public safety agencies.

As of February 2023, Skydio has 1,200+ enterprise customers and reported 30x growth over the past three years.

In February 2022, Skydio won the US Army contract for its Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Program of Record, which has a total contract value of up to $99.8 million.

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Dedrone

Counter-drone defense solutions and system.

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Industry

Defense, Drones

Founded

2014

Funding

$127.9 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of May 2023, Dedrone counts customers, including 4/7 of the G-7 nation governments, 100 critical infrastructure sites, 30+ airports, 50+ stadiums, 30+ US Federal entities, 20+ non-US governments, and 70 public safety organizations.

As of May 2023, Dedrone’s drones have been trained on data from 240 million drone flights.

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SkySpecs

Drones to simplify renewable energy asset management.

Headquarters

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Industry

Drones, Climate

Founded

2012

Funding

$118.8 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of July 2023, SkySpecs reported $42 billion of assets under contract, 130 gigawatts served, 45% of North America blades monitored, and 540,000 blades inspected (up from 300,000 in May 2022).

As of July 2023, SkySpecs serves customers in 30 countries.

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Wingcopter

Drone solutions to improve and save lives.

Headquarters

Weiterstadt, Hessen, Germany

Industry

Drones

Founded

2017

Funding

$109.9 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of July 2023, Wingcopter’s success stories include Wildlife Conservation in Canada, Industrial Sample Delivery in Germany, and Infrastructure Inspection in Norway.

In June 2023, Wingcopter signed a deal with Siemens Healthineeers to transport laboratory diagnostics materials and medical supplies in Africa.

In June 2022, Wingcopter signed a deal to roll out 12,000 delivery drones in Africa over the next five years to transport goods, medicine, lab samples, and vaccines to remote locations.

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Whisper Aero

Making the world of aviation quieter.

Headquarters

Crossville, Tennessee

Industry

Drones, Defense

Founded

2020

Funding

$39.5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of July 2023, Whisper Aero claims its electric propulsion systems are 100x quieter, 20% more efficient, and with scalable thrusts of 5-500 lbs.

The company only took eight months to design, build, and fly a demonstrator drone with its eQ160 propulsor to validate the solution.

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Verity

Inventory drones deliver you zero-error warehouses.

Headquarters

Zurich, Switzerland

Industry

Drones

Founded

2014

Funding

$61.5 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of March 2023, Verity is installed in 30 sites across 13 countries.

Verity customers, such as DSV, a transportation and logistics company, reported they can do the same task 9x cheaper and 20x faster with the help of Verity’s drones.

In March 2023, Verity’s customer IKEA announced they were deploying 100 of Verity’s drones across 16 European locations.

Verity customers include Maersk, IKEA, DSV, INGKA, and Samsung SDS.

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Zeitview

Advanced inspection software for energy and infrastructure.

Headquarters

Santa Monica, California

Industry

Drones

Founded

2014

Funding

$114 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

As of June 2023, Zeitview has customers in 70+ countries.

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Airspace Link

Safely integrate drones at scale.

Headquarters

Detroit, Michigan

Industry

Drones

Founded

2018

Funding

$41 million

Valuation

Undisclosed

Traction

Airspace Link corporate customers include Thales, Workhorse, MissionGO, and MercuryGate, and government customers include Detroit Aertropolis; Ontario, Canada; Syracuse, New York; Johns Creek, Georgia; the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

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