GE Ventures invests in Airware

By Emily Aasand | December 01, 2014

GE Venutres, the investment arm of GE, has made its support of unmanned aerial systems official. The global firm recently announced it would invest in Airware, a UAS-based company. The two companies will work together to identify ways that Airware’s platform can help deliver safer, more efficient solutions for GE’s industrial customer base and allow them to collect better data and make more informed decisions.

“GE, a Fortune 50 company, sees commercial drones as a promising way to collect richer, faster and more effective data in a wide range of markets,” said Jonathan Downey, founder and CEO of Airware. “The company operates in more than 170 counties globally and across many industries, and we’re thrilled to provide it with a platform to explore the space further.”

“Airware is at the heart of today’s commercial UAV ecosystem, and GE Ventures is excited to use this partnership to learn more about how drones can be used to meet the needs of our customers and business units,” said Alex Tepper, managing director of GE Ventures.

“Airware is setting the standard among UAV manufacturers and developers, and helping the entire ecosystem grow with it,” GE Ventures said. “We’re excited to announce our investment in Airware, which will help prepare for the commercial launch of its platform and expand its engineering, sales, marketing and customer support functions.”

GE Ventures has already been working with GE customers across industries including oil and gas, power and transportation to outline potential uses for commercial UAVs and to identify new and innovative ways to tap its potential.

“We tend to look at innovation across different segment areas and the four thematic themes that we’re investing in right now are around the world of health, the world of energy, the world of the industrial internet and the world of advanced manufacturing—where in fact the drone space comes to play,” Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Ventures.

Airware is a member of the small UAV Coalition that was formed earlier this year to represent several manufacturers, operators, payload providers and software developers.