On May 2, 2024, Lviv, Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces possessed a drone. “Just open any newspaper, turn on any TV channel. Look what’s happening in Ukraine. Look what’s happening in the Middle East. Drones have forever changed modern warfare, public safety and homeland security,” Dedrone CEO Aaditya Devarakonda told CNBC 2024 On May 6, 2016, his startup was acquired by public safety company Axon.
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Public Safety Technology Company axon announced on Monday that it would acquire drone defense startup Dedrone.
Serving military, government and commercial customers from airports to stadiums and high-profile events, Dedrone has become a major player in smart air security. Its technology already reaches half of the U.S. population, 40 cities, 30 airports, 50 stadiums and 50 correctional facilities. Its work spans 36 countries, 9 U.S. federal agencies and more than 35 law enforcement agencies.
Founded in 2014, Dedrone has received a total of $127 million in venture capital from existing investors, including Axon, which co-led a funding round with VCs in July 2022 and serves on Dedrone’s board of directors To have a role to play.
The company ranked 23rd last year CNBC Disruptor 50 list.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024, and specific terms have not been disclosed.
Best known for its Tasers, Axon also provides body cameras, vehicle cameras and a cloud-based digital evidence management platform for managing assets including Axon body camera footage. In addition to commercial enterprises, its customers include first responders, fire departments, correctional facilities and judicial departments in international, federal, state and local law enforcement.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Morgan Brennan, Axon CEO Rick Smith, who founded the public safety company three decades ago, said Dedrone’s work in protecting public airspace is consistent with his company’s mission. “You can see what’s happening around the world. Drones bring great promise, but they also bring great danger. So by joining forces, we’re able to combine our scale with Dedrone’s ingenuity and Innovation combines so that we can protect more lives in more areas.
Axon has a market capitalization of more than $24 billion, and its stock price has risen from a low of $50 in 2019 to over $300 today. Axon raises full-year revenue guidance its latest earningsThe company’s sales, which were announced Monday afternoon to coincide with the acquisition announcement, hit nearly $2 billion, with first-quarter sales up 34%.
Aaditya Devarakonda, a former technology investment banker and Dedrone consultant who has served as Dedrone CEO since 2020, noted that the company has a strong presence in industries including government, utilities, critical infrastructure, event venues, airports and correctional facilities. The growing footprint in , is a perfect match for Axon’s ecosystem of connected devices and software.
“We are deployed in 800 different locations,” Devarakonda told Brennan. “We keep bad drones out of the country… Just open any newspaper and turn on any TV channel. Look what’s happening in Ukraine. Look at what’s happening in the Middle East. Drones have forever changed modern warfare, public safety, and homeland security. …Look, every airport needs it, every prison needs it.
The Dedrone system is being put into use in Ukraine.
Dedrone’s main product, Dedrone Tracker, provides security for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, protecting 900 square kilometers of airspace and 44 key locations. It also partners with the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The tracker can detect approximately 200 drone models from 65 manufacturers, trigger alerts and analyze incident data to create forensic reports.
It has launched emergency drones for field testing by police departments and debuted Dedrone Tactical, a plug-and-play, mobile-mounted radar with AI-driven detection equipment. Chief among its new products is DedroneCityWide, which acts like an air traffic control system similar to drones and was named the best invention of 2023 by Time magazine.
Last year, Dedrone technology was selected by the Department of Homeland Security as the only counter-drone approved for counterterrorism use.
Smith estimates Dedrone will increase Axon’s total available market by more than 20 percent. Smith said that in a world where consumers can basically buy a drone at Best Buy or online, with some minor modifications and planning, it can go from a consumer toy to “something that could be very dangerous,” which Dedrone is in the process of doing. One area of society: Help will be needed to identify the risks and “huge growth areas” for public safety departments to have their own drones.
Today, drones arrive at the scene before police cars have made it through traffic, meaning officers have to be on the roof. “You’re looking out into the distance trying to see a drone. We know that Superman’s sensor array can track a drone and make the airspace much safer than someone standing on a rooftop,” Smith said. .
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