Drone Funding Soars Despite Regulatory Roadblocks

(Source: Wall St Journal Blogs)  

Heavy regulation in the U.S. for drones hasn’t stopped venture capitalists from backing startups that make the small flying robots. Deborah Gage reports for Dow Jones VentureWire that the latest funding is for drone startup Kespry Inc., which raised $10 million for commercial drones from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The company’s chief executive, Paul Doersch, said Kespry wants to make the gathering of images and data exceptionally safe, reliable and easy to use.

Among the other venture-backed companies that are making drone or technology for them are DroneDeploy Inc., Unmanned Innovation Inc., 3D Robotics Inc. and Skycatch Inc.

ALSO IN TODAY’S VENTUREWIRE (subscription required):

Founders Circle Capital has closed on $195 million across two funds to pursue buying up shares from existing shareholders of technology startups.

Version One Ventures has closed its second fund at $35 million, nearly twice the size of its $19 million first fund.

Playstudios, the startup that makes myVegas, raised $20 million in Series C funding from Jafco Ventures and other unnamed investors.

Urban Airship has raised $12.1 million to continue growing its mobile notification business. The follow-on funding include investment from August Capital, Foundry Group and True Ventures.

Moov raised $3 million from China-based Banyan Capital for a wearable device that doesn’t just track people’s activity–it also coaches them.

Carmel Ventures, an Israel-based firm, has held a $194 million final close on its fourth fund for early-stage technology deals.

Continue Reading at Blogs.WSJ.com…