Unifly

Unifly is a European software company that provides a platform for drone telematics services for unmanned traffic management.[1][2] The company provides mapping and location data to connect authorities with pilots for the safe integration of drones into the airspace and unmanned aviation.[3][4] The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of VITO until a corporate spin-off in 2015. Unifly is headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium.[5]

History

Unifly was founded in 2015 by aerospace experts Andres Van Swalm, Jurgen Verstaen, Koen Meuleman and Hans Schrauwen..[6] They worked on creating a platform to facilitate unmanned traffic management solutions in the aerospace for drones.[7][8][9] The company received $1.2 million in seed funding from PMV and Qbic Fund.[10] Again in 2016, it raised another round of series A funding of $5 million from Terra Drone for the business expansion and development.[11][12]

In May 2018, Unifly announced that it has partnered with UNICEF to create a UTM drone corridor in Africa.[13][14] Later in the year the company announced its partnership with the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) program for New York’s UAS Test Site to test drone mission for the proposed corridor.[15][16][17] As of 2018, the company has operations in Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the US, Malawi, China and Japan.

Partnerships

Unifly partnered with HERE Technologies that specialises in digital mapping and location services to enable airspace maps for drones.[18] In 2018, Unifly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s Huawei Technologies to cooperate in the field of unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems.[19][20][7] In August 2018, Unifly formed a partnership with Integra Aviation Academy,[21][22] NUAIR and Griffiss International Airport to visualize and manage drone traffic in the low-altitude airspace.[23][24][25]

Projects

The company works on European projects for Horizon 2020 including, CORUS,[26] CLASS,[27] SECOPS[28] and PODIUM.[29]

Awards
  • 2018: Infosecurity Tech Startup of the Year
  • 2017: Luciad Geospatial Excellence Awards: Best Aviation Application.[30]
  • 2017: Tech Startup Day: Scale-up of the Year.[31]
  • 2017: EU Drone Awards: Best Emerging Drone Company.[32][33][34][35]
  • 2016: Nacht van de KMO / Night of the SME: Most Promising Company
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References
  1. Margaritoff, Marco. "Unifly to Provide UTM System for New York Drone Corridor". The Drive. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  2. "Unifly, Aeronyde to Create Drone Traffic System for Emergency Services - DRONELIFE". dronelife.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  3. "DFS and Unifly cooperate on the development of drone app - sUAS News - The Business of Drones". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  4. "African experiments with drone technologies could leapfrog decades of infrastructure neglect". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  5. Ohr, Thomas. "7 Belgian startups to look out for in 2017 | EU-Startups". www.eu-startups.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  6. "Unifly shaping drone space with Luciad's innovative platform". Geospatial World. 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  7. "Huawei and Unifly Collaborate to Identify and Track Drone Flights - sUAS News - The Business of Drones". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. 2018-06-11. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  8. "Unmanned systems: Underwater robot reef protector, U.S. Navy's carrier-based UAS, unmanned traffic management". www.vision-systems.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  9. "Unifly to Provide Unmanned Traffic Management System for New York Drone Testing Corridor - Domesticating the Drone". Domesticating the Drone. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  10. "Unifly Funding & Investors - CB Insights". Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  11. Ohr, Thomas. "Antwerp-based Unifly raises €5 million to become a global leader with its drone traffic management software | EU-Startups". www.eu-startups.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  12. "Drone traffic management software maker Unifly raises €5 million". Tech.eu. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  13. "Unifly, UNICEF Develop Growing UTM Drone Corridor in Malawi - DRONELIFE". dronelife.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  14. "Africa's first UTM system is supporting humanitarian drones". UNICEF Malawi. 2018-06-14. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  15. "NUAIR Partners with Unifly for Advanced UAS Testing in New York - Unmanned Aerial". Unmanned Aerial. 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  16. "NUAIR Alliance, European firm partner on drone-research work". www.cnybj.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  17. Madison, Samantha. "NUAIR, Griffiss announce partnership with Unifly". Uticaod. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  18. GmbH, Here Deutschland. "HERE and Unifly to map the airspace for drones". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  19. "Unifly en Huawei gaan samenwerken". 2018-06-11. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  20. "Huawei, Unifly Team on UTM". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  21. "Unifly, Integra Team Up to Develop New Drone UTM". Drone News. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  22. "Unifly Flies High with Three Advisory Board Drone Veterans - DRONELIFE". dronelife.com. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  23. "NUAIR Alliance Announces UTM Partnership with Unifly - Inside Unmanned Systems". Inside Unmanned Systems. 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  24. "Deals this week: Swissport International, MITRE Corporation, Unifly". Airport Technology. 2018-09-07. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  25. Unifly (2018-08-31). "NUAIR Alliance announces partnership with Unifly". ATC Network. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  26. "Concept of Operations for EuRopean UTM Systems | Projects | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission". CORDIS | European Commission. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  27. "CLear Air Situation for uaS: Maturing ground based technologies for a real-time Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management System (UTMS) to monitor and separate Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) traffic | Projects | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission". CORDIS | European Commission. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  28. "An Integrated Security Concept for Drone Operations | Projects | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission". CORDIS | European Commission. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  29. "Proving Operations of Drones with Initial UTM Management | Projects | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission". CORDIS | European Commission. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  30. "Luciad Announces Winners of Geospatial Excellence Awards at 2017 User Conference". Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  31. Tibau, Frederik. "Small Teaser and UniFly are startup and scale-up of the year!". startups.be. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  32. "Unifly Awarded Best Emerging Drone Company At EU Drone Awards". Drones Monthly. 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  33. "Best Emerging Drone Company' Award Won by Unifly - UASweekly.com". UASweekly.com. 2017-01-27. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  34. "Unifly Wins The Best Emerging Drone Company Award". Silicon Luxembourg. 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  35. "The most innovative European drone companies get awarded at the European Parliament". EYIF. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
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