Earlier this year, we explored how businesses are using drones to find efficiency and enable growth across Europe, which got us to focus on companies like Voliro, which is based in Switzerland. However, as part of that discussion, we discovered many of their projects are taking place in the United States, as users all over the world are utilizing their advanced aerial robots to perform countless inspection tasks in faster, cheaper and safer ways. The Volirio team further highlighted these opportunities to Commercial UAV Expo attendees, but recent news will enable the team to take these advantages to the next level.

In early October, Voliro announced that it has secured $12 million in Series A funding. Led by Cherry Ventures, this new funding brings Voliro’s total capital raised to $22 million and is set to enable the company to expand its product offerings and bring its technology to more industries globally.

We wanted to explore this news a bit more, so we connected with Simon Furer, CFO at Voliro and someone who was instrumental in the company's successful fundraising effort. We asked him how their business model will be impacted by this news, what difference current customers might feel as a result of it, what this investment tells us about the drone market as a whole and more. 

Jeremiah Karpowicz: What can you tell us about some of the conversations that helped secure this funding round? Were they centered on what Voliro has been able to accomplish up to now, or what you'd be able to newly develop with this coming through, or the potential of the market as a whole, or something else?

Simon Furer: The funding conversations focused on a combination of Voliro’s existing achievements, like strong market position and existing customer base, as well as its future potential, such as our path to autonomy and expanding into new markets. Investors were also amazed by Voliro’s business model of providing Hardware as a Service only.

Yes, I wanted to ask about your model, since Voliro's B2B subscription model is somewhat unique in the space. Does this model provide you with a competitive advantage that you can now leverage in a bigger way?

Yes, Voliro's B2B subscription model represents a significant competitive advantage that we can now leverage more effectively. It offers increased flexibility and scalability, making it easier for customers to adopt and integrate our solutions.

When it comes to how this funding will accelerate your mission and allow you to expand your product offering, is that in terms of your regions of focus or the capability of your products? How will it impact current Volirio customers?

We will definitely focus on expanding our US and European expansion faster, but this round also allows us to invest in core capabilities such as autonomy, repeatability, and scalability of the product.

Regarding current customers, we have always focused on a stellar customer experience. This remains the same and will not be changed. We are scaling our customer success team based on the amount of Voliro T Robots in the market.

What does this additional investment tell you about how the VC community as a whole is thinking of and views the drone industry?

We are very excited to raise funds within the current environment, but we do not overestimate our situation. We believe we have found a perfect partner to scale with.

What's one thing you're looking forward to seeing take shape at Voliro or for the drone industry in the next 6-12 months that will have a direct connection to this news?

The industry is slowly changing from pioneering robotics applications, to large-scale applications. No people should be working in hazardous environments and robotics can change so. We are looking forward to receiving orders of 5, 10, and 20 Voliro T robots from the same customer within the next 6-12 months.