Toulouse 02.01.2017 – During its yearly review, Delair announces a surge of its activity and triples its turnover, which reaches $ 7.1 million in 2016. Starting with a $15M fundraising, 2016 was the year of many successes for Delair: opening of a subsidiary in Los Angeles (USA), M&A operations, and technological and commercial partnerships. The Toulouse-based firm confirms its position as a major international player in the professional drone market. In 2017, Delair intends to continue its momentum by consolidating its position as a leader among industrial and agricultural players thanks to its expert solutions integrating drones, analytics and associated services.
2016 Key Figures
- 7.1M USD revenue (+242%)
- 70% of the revenue coming from export (out of France)
- 40% of the revenue invested into R&D
- 106 Employees (+135%)
- 15M USD funds raised
- 1 new subsidiary open in the USA
- 2 M&A: Eukréa Electromatique et Gatewing, a Trimble Company
- Build up of an international network of resellers: 150 distributors in 80 countries
Read the infographic for more key figures and events from 2016.
Acceleration, model efficiency and international take-off
For Delair , 2016 meant performance. The company has achieved a rapid and harmonious growth. By tripling its turnover (7.1M USD in 2016), and growing the team from 45 to 106 employees, it reaches the necessary critical mass to conquer a significant share of the expanding professional drone market.
Delair masters the entire drone technology value chain, from hardware to application specific data processing. The results are highly integrated products delivering high added value data. This advantage has been a key differentiator in the highly competitive drone market.
Delair’s drones are long range. They are certified for operations out of sight of their operator (BVLOS) and equipped with professional grade payloads, from photogrammetric cameras to LiDAR (sensors that where formerly reserved for aircraft). Among other things, they deliver ground surveys with up to 1 cm accuracy. Integrated image processing tools produce activity-specific high value analyses.
The range of available products is one of the widest on the market, and meets the majority of industrial customer’s needs.
“Commercial drones are set to be used on a daily basis as a cost effective tool for industrial and agricultural players. The market reorientation to professional drones confirms the relevance of our strategic choices and leads us to stay focused on a rapid deployment of our solutions around the world.” says Michael de Lagarde, co-founder and President of Delair.
Vertical segmentation, focus on R & D, with global ambitions: Delair objectives for 2017
Delair has defined 3 strategic priorities for 2017.
Structuring the commercial offer by verticals
In order to always improve the value proposition to the final customer, Delair’s offer is structured by verticals. In each of these sectors, Power & Utilities, Geospatial, Mines & Quarries, Oil & Gas, Railways & Roads, Emergency, Security & Defense and Agriculture & Forestry, Delair-Tech will propose a specific solution, so that the drone-based tool chains are integrated seamlessly into the current processes of industrial users, with the highest possible added value. The intent is to be the natural partner for all corporate users who wish to include UAV technologies in their daily tasks with immediate productivity improvements and ROI.
R&D, second generation products are coming
The R & D effort will be continued. The objective is to capitalize on Delair’s field experience and create second generation drones and associated data-processing software, more efficient, and best adapted to the specific needs of large industrial groups.
International Business Development
The company will continue to expand and strengthen its global distribution network for the distribution of hardware and software.
On the other hand, it will also focus on developing its service offerings worldwide. These offers respond to a demand of industrial customers who wish to benefit from this technology, without internalizing drone operations. Delair offers its customers experienced experts to provide them with turnkey deployment solutions, while ensuring the safety of the operations and the quality of the results.
“Our purpose is to help our industrial customer through the digital age, with the promise of turning aerial data into actionable business intelligence. For commercial drones, all over the world, 2017 will be the year of market adoption.” concludes Michael de Lagarde.
About Delair
Delair is a world leader in the commercial drone market and its industrial applications. Specialized in drone manufacturing and aerial data processing, the company offers professionals end-to-end solutions, from data acquisition to operational analysis. Delair-Tech is represented in more than 80 countries and employes more than 100 persons over the world with dedicated solutions for various industrial sectors: agriculture, geospatial, transportation, power, utilities, oil, gas, mines, and security & defense.
Téléchargez le communiqué de presse en français.
Download the official press release.
