Counterdrone Firm Dedrone Secures $15 million in Series B Financing

Dedrone, the San Francisco-based software security company that specializes in protecting airspace from drone threats, announced today it has secured $15 million for its Series B funding round led by Felicis Ventures and by John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, who has personally invested in the company. The funding comes on the heels of Dedrone’s rapid expansion in the security market. The new capital will be used to increase marketing and sales efforts, as well as investing in global research and development. All of Dedrone’s Series A investors are participating and providing funding for the Series B.

Dedrone offers security solutions addressing airspace vulnerabilities exploited by the advances in consumer and commercial drone technology. Dedrone’s software platform, detects aerial intrusions, provides early warning of malicious drone activities and is used to protect data centers, prisons, airports and other critical facilities from, corporate espionage, smuggling, terrorism and hacking. Led by CEO and co-founder, Joerg Lamprecht, the company was established in 2014, and is headquartered in San Francisco, with production, research and development in Kassel, Germany.

“Drones have given people the ability to go places where they have never been before and at times, circumnavigate traditional physical and cyber security installations,” said John Chambers. “Dedrone’s unique approach to use existing sensors and a powerful machine learning platform empowers enterprise and federal customers to re-gain control of their airspace. I believe Joerg and the Dedrone team are positioned to lead, and it’s an honor to be a part of their team.”

In addition to closing its Series B funding, Dedrone has achieved several milestones since its Series A funding:

• Added strategic, international resellers, including Airbus, Singtel and Deutsche Telekom
• Secured over 200+ installations in 2016 with notable customers including the 2016 U.S. presidential debates, the Suffolk County prison in New York, the Royal Family of Qatar, and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
• Engaged five unicorn investors: Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, Selina Lo, CEO of Ruckus Wireless, Hans Robertson, co-founder and COO of Meraki, Tom Noonan, former chairman, president and CEO of Internet Security Systems, Inc., and Trevor Healy, former CEO of Jajah and Amobee.

Joerg Lamprecht, co-founder and CEO of Dedrone, says, “The Dedrone team has experienced tremendous growth in the past year, and we’re thrilled to partner with such reputable organizations and partners, including John Chambers and Felicis Ventures. I’m very proud of our team of world-class innovators and engineers, who are committed every day to build this business and advance the security market’s understanding of the risks associated with drone operations. Together with our partners, we’re making massive strides in providing businesses and individuals a complete detection and counterdrone solution for high-risk areas.”

Aydin Senkut, Founder and Managing Director of Felicis Ventures, adds, “We invested in Dedrone because we believe drone security will be a top priority for both businesses and governments around the world for many years to come. Dedrone’s drone detection capabilities are far superior to any other company we have seen in the market, and their incredible team has quickly established themselves as the leader in this fast-growing space, as evident by the stellar roster of clients they built in a short time. We were really impressed by the technology, team, customers and potential market for Dedrone; it’s normal for us to get excited about just one or two of those factors but much rarer to find all in one company.”