Delair-Tech sought to cement it’s position as an international leader in the commercial UAS market by acquiring Gatewing, Trimble’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) business based in Belgium. In addition, the company signed an agreement to partner with Trimble as its preferred provider of UAS solutions.
“Currently, the drone market is undergoing intense consolidation, and now is the time to strategically position ourselves as leaders of tomorrow,” says Michael de Lagarde, Delair-Tech’s CEO. “The agreement we have reached with Trimble will enable us to reach the critical size required to better respond to the needs of large industrial groups, which are our main target.” Trimble bought Gatewing, a Belguim company, in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. The company was founded in 2008.
The companies plan to merge their teams and create synergy between their technologies and know-how with the goal to increase “capacity for innovation”. Delair-Tech’s new acquisition will strengthen the teams that design and produce the company’s industrial mini-drones with the inclusion of the technical staff based in Ghent (Belgium). The company will also increase its total workforce to 100 employees, marking its place as one of the main players in the global professional drone market.
Delair-Tech also announced that they are teaming up with microdrones, a supplier of multirotor systems, to offer a comprehensive range of products. They will jointly become official suppliers for Trimble’s worldwide distribution network, which sells UAS and image-processing systems to the construction, agriculture, transport, geomatics and energy sectors.
“Trimble chose to partner with Delair-Tech and microdrones to strengthen our UAS portfolio,” says Ron Bisio, Vice-President of Trimble’s Geospatial Division. “Working together, Delair-Tech and microdrones will deliver industry-leading unmanned aircraft systems, while Trimble will focus on core software technology for UAS that integrates positioning, remote sensing and photogrammetry. The ultimate goal is to deliver a complete solution to transform work processes and boost efficiency for our customers.”
“We are proud that Trimble has selected us to be their provider of fixed-wing drone systems,” says Michael de Lagarde, CEO of Delair-Tech. “We will continue to provide dedicated end-to-end solutions, from hardware to fully processed aerial data, which can then be turned into actionable business intelligence. Our strategy is to carve out a larger share of the professional drone market and offer inspection and surveillance services to major industrial groups, based on very-high-resolution image acquisition combined with image processing software specific to each industry (energy, transport, agriculture, construction and security).”
Frank Schroth is editor in chief of DroneLife, the authoritative source for news and analysis on the drone industry: it’s people, products, trends, and events.
Email Frank
TWITTER:@fschroth
[…] integration builds on collaboration between the two companies that includes Delair’s acquisition of the Gatewing drone business from Trimble in […]