Flytrex last week said it had closed $8 million in financing led by existing investors Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV) and btov. The financing complements a recently awarded grant from the Israel Innovation Authority for a total of $9.3 million. Flytrex said it will use the funds to expand its footprint across the U.S. and scale up its production and research and development capabilities.
The financing follows a 2019 round, bringing total funding to $20.3 million, said the company, which claimed to be a leader in on-demand drone delivery for food and retail.
Flytrex said the investment comes in the wake of several significant milestones. In September 2020, the company announced a benchmark pilot project to deliver select grocery and household essential items from Walmart stores in Fayetteville, N.C., using Flytrex’s autonomous drone delivery service.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Flytrex had launched a system delivering necessities to residents of Grand Forks, N.D., helping address the growing health crisis by keeping citizens in the safety of their own homes and reducing crowding and unnecessary contact at local stores.
“Our mission is to make widespread on-demand drone delivery the rule rather than the exception – and this funding is a vote of confidence from our investors that we are indeed on the way to making this a reality,” said Yariv Bash, co-founder and CEO of Flytrex. “Our systems are in the final stages of receiving key certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, helping us launch the drone delivery revolution across the U.S.”
Since successfully launching the world’s first fully autonomous urban drone delivery system in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2017, Flytrex has been helping drive regulatory advances aimed at getting drone delivery off the ground. Flytrex has been participating in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Aerial System Integration Pilot Program (FAA UAS IPP) since 2018.
The company added that it was recently selected for the FAA’s subsequent BEYOND initiative to work with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and the North Dakota Department of Transportation to help tackle the remaining challenges of UAS integration. In November 2020, Flytrex was included in the FAA’s select list of several drone companies set to gain airworthiness certification, a crucial step to enabling the safe integration of drones into existing airspace.
“It’s been thrilling to watch Flytrex become a world leader in the drone delivery space with multiple airborne delivery systems around the world,” said Barak Ben Avinoam, managing partner at BGV Europe and Israel. “The Flytrex team is trailblazing both innovation and implementation in the drone industry, and we look forward to seeing their airborne delivery reach more and more delighted consumers across the globe.”
About Flytrex
Flytrex said its autonomous drone delivery systems are disrupting markets such as e-commerce, mobility, and smart cities. The company said it is working with regulatory bodies such as the FAA on setting safety standards and meeting the ever-evolving needs of retailers and consumers alike.
Flytrex provides a direct-to-consumer autonomous drone delivery service that lets retailers integrate faster, safer and cheaper deliveries than ever before. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, the Flytrex team has more than 50 years of aerospace and defense experience.
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