What Do Recent Exits From The Drone Industry Mean?

What Do Recent Exits From The Drone Industry Mean?

There have been a few big moves in the drone industry recently. The shutdown of Skyward, the purchasing of Airmap, the loss of Airware, and the disappearing acts of Measure, Kespry, and Precision Hawk have gotten the Drone Doomsayers all crying that the sky is falling. Instead of looking at these losses as indication of any one thing, it's fair to look at each and the circumstances surrounding them. What do the losses of all of these companies, each a VC-backed darling at some point and very much in public's eye, have in common? Well, each started with a business model whose demand was untested, attempted to create value on limited margin services, or attempted to create a new market through regulation rather than based on existing customer demand by serving the industry itself. Instead of leveraging the core facets of what makes uncrewed aviation so unique, so democratizing in whose involved, they sought to insert themselves as a layer between the end-customer and the service provider; to become a middle man through software or service. It's important to remember what makes drones so unique; they are highly autonomous, often low-altitude, with flexible take-off-and-landing, ease of use, and low cost