Key Facts
- Delair founded in 2011 is worth $43 million and focuses on drone-based solutions for businesses.
- Parrot SA which is worth $54 million is one of the most sought-after producers of drones at present.
- American-owned Skydio has an annual income of $114.3 million US dollars.
Drones are becoming very popular and for a good reason. Products from the largest drone companies, once seen as a luxury and meant for the wealthy, are now everyday essential for so many people. Because of the increase in demand, numerous manufacturers are now venturing into the drone-making industry.
There are many uses of drones ranging from photography to surveying to filmmaking and much more. If you want to get into the drone industry, there are several different companies that you can choose from.
Currently, there are several drone manufacturing companies, and they all provide a special offer with their products. The biggest drone companies are racing to make their products accessible and affordable for consumers.
Some companies manufacture drones designed for the big market — consumer-grade drones. Other companies concentrate on manufacturing drones that tend to the needs of the professional and commercial market. The next drone companies, however, provide these two options in their drone manufacturing.
The top manufacturing companies for drones consist mainly of publicly traded businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs who recognize the enormous market potential for drones and want to capitalize on the trend before the general public adopts it widely.
The multi-million dollar question now is, what are the largest drone companies in the world, and what is their specialty?
Let’s discuss the ten largest drone companies worldwide and see why they made it on our top list:
10. Kespry — $1 million
The tenth company in our list of the world’s largest drone companies is Kespry. The company was founded in Menlo Park, California, by Parker Clark and Paul Doersch in 2013. They are known for developing a hands-free drone based on an atmospherical intelligence platform that makes it easy to infuse aerial data.
On December 5th, 2017, Kespry raised 33 million US dollars in revenue from a fundraising session. However, they currently have only 1 million US dollars in revenue with only 15 employees.
Kespry is a unique drone maker that enables users to see, record, and analyze aerial images and survey data. Their clients include mining enterprises, building firms, surveying firms, etc.
9. EHang — $8.4 million
EHang, full name Guangzhou EHang Intelligent Technology Co. Limited, has its headquarters in Guangzhou, China. It is a company that manufactures and develops independent aerial vehicles and commercial passenger independent AVs (Aerial Vehicles). These vehicles are great for aerial photography, filming, surveying, or taking emergency images.
Huazhi Hu and Yifang (otherwise known as Derrick) Xiong launched the company in 2014. As of 2020, it had a total of 233 employees and its market cap amounting to 349.2 million US dollars on September 9th, 2022, and a revenue of 8.4 million US dollars at the end of the 2021 fiscal year. EHang is popular for producing drones that a smartphone application may control.
Some fantastic features of EHang’s Ghost Drone 2.0 include self-protection that allows it to fly back to safety automatically if the battery runs out, or if there is lost communication. It also has a dual sensor that can serve as a backup for the other in case of the failure of the first sensor and app control that utilizes intelligent algorithms to lower the chances of mistakes within the time interval of its flights.
8. Autel Robotics — $8.5 million (Largest Drone Companies)
Founded in 2014, Autel Robotics is still a newcomer to the technology sector compared to other businesses. 25% of the workforce at the company consists of former students from Edmonds Community College, according to the management.
The company’s headquarters is located in Bothell, Washington, with its employees amounting to barely 120, with yearly revenue of 8.5 million dollars. Its mission is to develop and manufacture auto-piloting aerial innovations that would ensure both recreational and professional users attain maximum satisfaction.
Autel Robotics has provided high-quality industrial drones for construction monitoring, cinematography, and search/rescue missions. They provide answers regarding novel aerial discovery through the camera drone technology and quadcopter at the forefront of the market.
Autel Robotics hinges on the idea of developing easy-to-handle aerial gadgets that are great for photo shoots, videography, and photography.
7. Aerialtronics Company — $14.9 million.
Aerialtronics revenue increased by around 6 million Euros, with the acquisition of 50% of the Dutch subsidiary’s Drone Volt’s shares on January 20th, 2021. With its American partner Aquiline Drones, it has a total revenue of 15 million Euros which is about 14.9 million US dollars.
The company popularly manufactures commercially automated aircraft systems with many outstanding features. For example, their most recent creation — the Altura Zenith, combines exceptional technology with simple, compressed, and light handle designs.
The company supports a dual-vision camera and aids in detecting radiation, gas interception, etc. The double-vision camera is excellent for safety and security, research, surveying, inspection, mapping, and agriculture.
6. Delair — $43 million
Delair is a private company founded in 2011, referred to as Delair-Tech. The company manufactures Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and management of assets. Its headquarters are in Toulouse, France, with other offices in Beijing, Paris, Singapore, Ghent, and Los Angeles.
The company founders are Michaël de Lagarde, Benjamin Benharrosh, Benjamin Michel, and Bastien Mancini. The company has 120 employees, with a total funding revenue of 43 million US dollars.
Delair is at the forefront of the provision of drone-based solutions for business. Delair offers high performance and lengthy ranged static-winged UAV hardware, accompanied by a complicated theoretical technology and effective services.
The company manufactures fixed-wing drones like the UX11. However, it is essential to note that Delair is not just involved in the drone manufacturing business but also provides analytic software distinct to the industry for storing aerial data and spontaneous flight intended instruments.
Customers from the agricultural, mining, utility, oil and gas, transportation, and construction industries are among their clients because of their end-to-end solutions.
5. Parrot Wireless Manufacturing — $54 million
Parrot SA is a wireless manufacturing company in Paris, France, with an annual revenue of 54 million dollars in the 2021 fiscal year. Founded by Christine/M De Tourvel, Henri Seydoux, and Jean-Pierre Talvard in 1994, its subsidiaries include Parrot Drones SAS, Parrot Italia S.r.L, Parrot Iberia S.L.U, and Parrot Gmbh. As of 2015, the company already has 948 employees.
Even after leaving the toy drone industry in 2019, Parrot is still among the leading players in manufacturing the most sought-after drones in the market. When searching for/discussing drones throughout the web, Parrot’s ANAFI camera drone pops out in every list, as it is one of the favorites for drone enthusiasts and professionals alike.
Parrot is not only involved in the drone manufacturing business but also designs, manufactures, and markets products for tablets and smartphones. Parrot produces many drones, and its new releases are frankly advanced.
According to public opinion, the Bebop 2, Parrot’s recent release, is a formidable force to be reckoned with in the drone market and is even likely among the best quality drones out there.
Parrot drones are widely known for their unique features, including first-person view (FPV), auto landing and take-off, tracking of the virtual perimeter (geo-fencing), etc. These features make it simple and less complex for amateurs to gain satisfaction in flying their drones.
4. Yuneec International — $213.7 million
Yuneec International is an aircraft manufacturer in Jinxi, Kunshan, a town in Jiangsu, China. Wenyan Jiang and Larry Liu launched the business in 1999. It specializes in producing electric aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and drones. They have about 1800 employees currently, and its branch company is GreenWing International. Their annual revenue is 213.7 million US dollars.
Yuneec, a global drone manufacturing firm in Shanghai, China, has been granted permission to design its unmanned helicopter innovation in the United States and Europe. The company initially started business in the aircraft industry before successfully developing the pioneer commercial fly-ready static winged RC airplane.
Ultimately, Yuneec ventured into the drone manufacturing industry with their aerial video quadcopter, which is steadily becoming very popular. Yuneec broadcasted the launch of its invention — the Typhoon H520, in early 2017. It was uniquely designed for commercial use and large customer service functions to ensure high excellence.
Another note-worthy innovation launched by Yuneec in 2018 was the Mantis Q, the first drone with voice features. The Mantis Q drone has excellent foldability features, making it easy to move about, and a 4k camera backed by gimbal stabilization that enables perfect footage free of hitches. The integrated camera perfectly captures UHD 4K video and high-resolution 16:9 or 4:3 non-moving images.
3. Skydio — $340 million
Skydio has a total funding revenue of 340 million US dollars, with an annual income of 114.3 million US dollars. In February 2018, Skydio attained 10 million US dollars in venture funding. Their employee estimated revenue is $312,420, and their recent valuation amounts to 1 billion US dollars. Skydio has a total of 366 employees, this makes a 15% increase compared to the last year.
The American drone manufacturer, Skydio has been progressively expanding its presence in the industry. To launch its business activities, Skydio utilized the over 70 million dollars in venture financing raised when created at the beginning of 2014.
The company launched its R1 drone in 2018, renowned widely for its innovation in independent consumer drones, serving as a commercial development model. In 2019, the company produced Skydio 2, which sold out on the day of release. Skydio 2 features the world’s most advanced flying AI system — the Skydio Autonomy Engine.
2. Insitu — $603.1 million
Insitu Incorporated is an American company in the technological sphere that develops, designs, and manufactures UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems), with an annual revenue of 603.1 million dollars. It is a subsidiary company of Boeing Defense, Space, and Security. This second-largest drone company in the world has multiple office buildings in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The company’s president/CEO is Lynn Fox, and its headquarters are in the US city of Bingen. By 2022, the company will have 1,000 employees.
Insitu is a company that provides a complete range of drone services, including hardware provisions through their drones created for commercial purposes, software manufacturing for drawing out information from raw data collected by drones, and other drone-related activities like surveying and scouting for information.
Insitu’s ScanEagle drone’s design is excellent for elevated photography. It also has several other applications involving monitoring oil and gas pipelines, assessing agricultural produce, and forced detention.
1. Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) — $3.83 Billion
The World’s Largest Drone Company is DJI, with a projected market cap of $11 billion by 2025.
SZ DJI Technology Company Limited, known in full as Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Limited, is popularly addressed by its trade name — DJI, an abbreviation for Da-Jiang Innovations. Its revenue as of market closure in 2021 was 3.83 billion US dollars.
Frank Wang is the company’s founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO); he founded the company in 2006 to design and manufacture industrial electronics, but it soon expanded into developing consumer products. Its first product was a remote-controlled helicopter that could be controlled from the ground by a smartphone app. It has since become one of the largest consumer drone manufacturers in the world.
DJI Innovation’s parent company is iFlight Technology Company Limited, and its subsidiaries are DJI Technology Incorporated and Hasselblad. The company is privately owned, with its head office in Nanshan, Shenzhen, China, and other branches in the United States, Japan, Germany, Hongkong, Beijing, South Korea, and Shanghai.
Daijiang Innovations is currently the top player in the drone manufacturing industry, with an approximate 70% share in the drone production market. One of their popular drones worldwide is the Phantom series, which is well known and used by professionals and drone enthusiasts due to its wireless technological feature that enables GPS First Person Viewing.
DJI’S Consumer Market
DJI sells its products directly to consumers through an online store or dealers who get the product from DJI directly. It also sells its drones to retailers who sell them through third-party stores like Amazon or Best Buy. It’s best known for its Phantom series — which includes models with cameras that range from $1,100 to $5,000 — but also sells smaller models that cost less than $500 without camera attachments. The company has also released several other models, including the Spark (with a camera) and the Mavic Pro.
Popular DJI products
Popularly known DJI developments include the Mavic series, which included the Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom, launched in late 2018.
Another great innovation from DJI was the Mavic Mini in 2020, which provides all its high-quality features in a small drone that weighs less than a pound.
In 2016, the launching of Zero Zero Robotic’s Hover Camera posed a strong opponent to Daijiang’s recently released pocket-sized drone. The pocket-sized drone released by DJI — Spark is a mini drone containing all features of DJI’s unique technologies, including video stabilization, an AI flight control alternative, a mechanical gimbal, and the incredible image quality of their camera.
Daijiang Innovations has become a household name in the drone industry, thanks to its products’ unique and cutting-edge characteristics, making them the most sought-after in the drone market.
Summary of The 10 Largest Drone Companies In The World
| Rank | Company |
|---|---|
| 1 | Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) — $3.83 Billion |
| 2 | Insitu — $603.1 million |
| 3 | Skydio — $340 million |
| 4 | Yuneec International — $213.7 million |
| 5 | Parrot Wireless Manufacturing Company — $54 million |
| 6 | Delair — $43 million |
| 7 | Aerialtronics Company — $14.9 million |
| 8 | Autel Robotics — $8.5 million |
| 9 | EHang — $8.4 million |
| 10 | Kespry — $1 million |
Conclusion
The drone industry is booming. From new companies entering the market to more established companies expanding their product lines, the world of drones is rapidly evolving.
Therefore, Drones have become a popular tool for businesses and consumers alike. While there are still some limitations, drones are effective in photography, filmmaking, and mapping.
From high-altitude flights over the Grand Canyon to aerial photography around stadiums, drones are becoming increasingly important in personal and professional life. These largest drone companies are catching up with the demand with different kinds of creativity and ingenuity. So, depending on what task you want to perform, these largest drone companies’ products can save the day. Why not check them out today?
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Suwin/Shutterstock.com.