Drone AG, a UK-based team of farmers, agronomists, drone pilots and software engineers, has secured £650,000 of equity funding and a £145,000 grant from Innovate UK, which will go towards growing its business and developing new crop scouting technology.
“This is the largest amount of funding we have secured as a company to date, with both grant providers and private investors choosing to support the development of our technology,” said Jack Wrangham, founder of Drone AG.
“This funding will enable our team to grow and develop new functionality and an Android compatible version of our crop scouting app Skippy Scout.”
Skippy Scout uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and AI to provide arable farmers with crop insights over a wide acreage. According to the company, the drone images provide an accurate green area index, count emerging plants, and identify weeds.
Wrangham added: “We are soon to launch our Scout Sphere functionality which will offer users a unique full field overview that includes the ability to focus on any area of the field and choose where to inspect at leaf-level.
“Skippy Nest can be installed on any farm and operated from anywhere in the world. It will revolutionise the way dronescan be operated to help scout crops.”
The Innovate UK grant was obtained with support from NorthInvest, a not-for-profit organisation working to increase innovation across the Northern Powerhouse region. It will enable Drone Ag to expand its development team and work on more features.
