The drone industry consolidated this morning, as Ondas Holdings, the company behind Waltham, Massachusetts-based American Robotics announced its plans to acquire Airobotics. It’s been a few years since we last covered, when the Israeli company announced a combined $28.5 million roundup.
So far, the company has raised $130 million since its founding in 2014. Meanwhile, American robotics It was acquired by Ondas in August of last year.
The new deal should prove a perfect fit, as both companies play similar roles in the broader industrial drone space. While there should be a reasonable amount of redundancy, Ondas notes that such a merger would give the combined companies a better global foothold in a rapidly expanding category.
Image credits: American robots
The companies write in a joint press release,
The combination of the two companies brings together ground-breaking engineering and aerospace talent, organizational leadership and world-class technology platforms, providing a unique opportunity to deliver a broader range of solutions and services to customers at accelerated timescales. Furthermore, the combined companies offer the potential to be a truly global provider of robotic drone solutions to commercial markets, allowing multinational and governmental clients to focus their drone programs with the leading solution provider.
American Robotics’ primary gameplay is the Scout, a fully autonomous drone system that can operate in remote locations without direct human supervision. Likewise, Airobotics offers a one-stop solution for autonomous drones. The company’s Optimus drone is launched from an automated docking space that serves as a base and transmits data to a quadcopter. Applications include emergency response, mapping and surveying.
“American Robotics and Airobotics have successfully matured different elements of the DIB ecosystem, and this business combination allows us to deliver an accelerated portfolio of offerings that cements our leadership position in a broader range of market opportunities,” American Robotics CEO Reiss Moser told TechCrunch. Put another way, he said, in the near term we will learn from each other to further the maturity of our own systems. In the long term, the Scout and Optimus system will be different models that are in the same product family, with each specializing in a different set of use cases. See infographic An annex that highlights the fundamental differences between the two existing platforms.
Image credits: American robots
The joint companies will continue their operations in the United States and Israel, and will have an office in Asia. Mozer expects Airobotics to retain its existing employees. In the meantime, the brands will remain distinct in the short term, with Airobotics eventually being included in the American Robotics banner.
Based on current stock prices, the transaction is currently valued at $18.4 million. Its deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
