Battery News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Miniature Robotic Aircraft Manufacturer Secures Financing from Battery Ventures
Insitu Group to Use Funding to Expand Lightweight, Low-cost Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
Menlo Park, CA and Bingen, WA, May 8, 2006 – Battery Ventures today announced they have led a $23 million Series C investment in The Insitu Group, Inc., designer and manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). Other previous investors participated in this round, including Second Avenue Partners (Seattle, WA) and Pteranodon Ventures (Las Vegas, NV). Insitu’s miniature robotic aircraft are an ideal platform for military, commercial and civilian use, based on their small size, long-endurance, low-cost and consistent reliability.
Insitu will use the funding to continue product development with enhanced capabilities for military and commercial applications, and to expand its product portfolio to address increasing market demand. According to Frost & Sullivan, the global UAV market is projected to be $50B by 2015.
“We’re on the cusp of a tremendous market opportunity and this investment will help us accelerate operations and innovation to keep pace with growing customer demand,” said Steve Sliwa, CEO of Insitu. “The military has long led the way in the strategic deployment of UAVs. All branches continue to get quicker and leaner in response to today’s threats, making small, lightweight, unmanned aircraft an increasingly valuable asset. We expect to see significant growth in this market as well as in commercial applications, and are focused on delivering the advanced technologies these customers require.”
Insitu has developed the ScanEagle UAV, as part of its Strategic Alliance with The Boeing Company. Together they have deployed ScanEagle in operations with the US Marine Corps and US Navy. The small, autonomous ScanEagle has accumulated more than 13,000 combat flight hours, making it one of the more highly utilized UAVs in the US Military for ISR and Force Protection services. The ScanEagle is able to conduct reconnaissance missions without putting troops in harm’s way and at a much lower cost than traditional means.
Insitu’s UAV is equally suited to commercial markets such as geomagnetic surveying, where a large part of the missions are too costly and too dangerous to deploy manned aircraft. Insitu teamed with Fugro Airborne Surveys in 2004 to pursue this opportunity. Insitu is also pursuing other viable applications in various markets ranging from surveillance to environmental.
“Insitu’s team has done a great job building the company and taking advantage of this rapidly growing market opportunity,” said Roger Lee, general partner at Battery Ventures. “We’re at a point where all kinds of robotics are finally moving into the mainstream, and Insitu has the people and technology to lead the way. From traffic reporting to telecommunications relay, we can only begin to imagine how lightweight, low-cost UAVs will continue to impact our lives.”
Background on Insitu’s platform:
Insitu’s technology delivers significant advances over both standard and miniature UAVs on today’s market, including:
- Long endurance and low cost: cost is less than $100K per plane and can
fly for up to 20 hours.
- Runway independence: via catapult, it may be launched from and return to any location, whether ship, battlefield, or other surface.
- Inertially stablized optics: as it flies, an advanced electro-optical camera can track an object of interest, and instantaneously relay high quality video and precise intelligence information to operators.
- Low personnel requirements: requires only two people for remote operation; it is a “launch-and-forget” system, guiding itself by Global Positioning System (GPS) to fly over a particular location for sustained periods.
- Expandable platform: the extensible avionics bay allows for the easy addition of new payloads and upgraded components.
About The Insitu Group
The Insitu Group, located in Bingen, Wash., develops Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for commercial and military applications. Insitu, which introduced the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean, also developed the Boeing ScanEagle and the Fugro GeoRanger. For more information about the company, see www.insitu.com.
About Battery Ventures
Founded in 1983, Battery Ventures is a leading venture capital firm focused on investing in technology companies at all stages of growth, from seed to later stage and tech buyouts. Battery leverages its people, expertise, and capital to actively guide companies to category dominance. The firm has invested in over 180 companies worldwide across information technology industries. From its offices in Wellesley, MA and Menlo Park, CA the partnership manages over $2 billion in committed capital, including its new fund of $450 million. For more information, visit www.battery.com.
Contact:
Chesua Patte
The Insitu Group
tabitha.orlando@insitugroup.com
509-493-6341
Karen Bommart
Battery Ventures
kbommart@battery.com
781-577-1272