Vigilant Aerospace, provider of the FlightHorizon situational awareness and detect-and-avoid system, received a new investment this week from Kluz Ventures, through its commercial drone and robotics fund The Flying Object.
Vigilant Aerospace’s product, FlightHorizon, is a situational awareness and detect-and-avoid system for drone pilots, manned aircraft pilots, and airspace managers. The product has a unique advantage in the space: the system is based on an exclusively licensed NASA patent and prototype. Vigilant’s relationship with NASA has allowed for extensive flight testing; the product is now in testing with commercial customers.
The Flying Object is managed by Kluz Ventures, a global investment firm, which also manages funds focused on artificial intelligence, blockchain, fintech, medical technologies and digital health. Financial terms of the Vigilant Aerospace investment were not disclosed.
“Vigilant Aerospace is in a unique position to fill an important technical gap in the unmanned aerial systems market by delivering reliable, well-tested detect-and-avoid solutions for a range of aircraft and operations,” said Artur Kluz, Managing Partner of Kluz Ventures. “We are excited to add this company to our investment portfolio, which is made up of the emerging drone technology companies that are making a significant impact on this rapidly growing industry.”
Kraettli L. Epperson, CEO and co-founder of Vigilant Aerospace, said “We are delighted to have the support and involvement of The Flying Object in Vigilant Aerospace and look forward to cooperation in bringing our industry-leading safety technology to an increasing number of ambitious commercial unmanned aircraft operations both in the US and internationally.”
The Vigilant Aerospace stake marks the fund’s latest major investment in the drone space. TFO also has invested in top drone tech companies Kittyhawk, which develops real-time flight operations and management solutions for professional pilots and fleet managers across a multitude of missions; and Measure , the industry’s leading “Drone as a Service” company, providing turnkey commercial drone solutions to acquire, process, and deliver aerial data to enterprise customers.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
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