Auterion has announced a major success: The open-source drone software company successfully raised $10 million in a seed financing round earlier this month. Investors include venture capital firms such as Lakestar, Mosaic Ventures, Costanoa Ventures and Tectonic Ventures.
According to a press release from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Auterion’s seed round surpasses the current European average of $1.17 million and even tops the Silicon Valley average of $6.3 million.
Founded just over a year ago by ETH Zurich graduates Lorenz Meier and Kevin Sartori, Auterion developed the open-source software PX4, which is used in autonomous flying systems. Companies around the world use the software, including tech giants Intel and Sony, as well as drone producers such as Yuneec.
Auterion is now developing the software even further to create a compatible ecosystem for developers, and the new funds will go towards this purpose.
Meier and Sartori met at ETH Zurich a decade ago. “As a world-class institution at the vanguard of science and technology, ETH Zurich is able to bring together talented individuals across diverse sectors. As such, we have found ETH Zurich to be a rich source of innovation,” said Klaus Hommels from Lakestar. “We believe Auterion’s software will be at the forefront of the growing drone and autonomous robot industry.”
Goldman Sachs predicts that market demand for commercial drone products and services will grow to $13 billion by 2020.
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