Ukrainian integrator of unmanned technologies DroneUA has attracted investments to scale its agricultural business in Ukraine. The investors were individuals from the UK, Poland and Moldova.
The investment is aimed at creating a joint venture in which DroneUA and SAS companies will combine resources to create the largest provider of unmanned technology services in agriculture. The new joint venture was named DroneUA Agroservice. In the DroneUA business structure, the DroneUA Agroservice division will be separated into an independent direction.
Thanks to the resources of the co-founders, DroneUA Agroservice will combine the latest Farm Management systems with experience in the use of unmanned technologies in agriculture and advances in the field of processing Earth remote sensing data. This will make the range of services much more accessible to farmers. The main business model of DroneUA Agroservice will be the provision of services to agricultural enterprises on a monthly subscription basis.
As a result of the transaction, the volume of land bank serviced by DroneUA Agroservice increased by more than 30% — up to 3.1 million hectaresAt the same time, about 270 thousand hectares are already under regular monitoring by monthly subscription; To service this volume, flights are carried out every 2 weeks. According to the service plan, in 2017, DroneUA Agroservice UAV operators will carry out over 30 thousand flights to new areas in Ukraine.
In accordance with development plans, by the end of 2018, the company’s staff will be increased to 200 employees, located in different regions of Ukraine. Already in June-July, it is planned to open new branches of the company in Odessa, Kirovograd, Sumy. In the future, the total number of DroneUA Agroservice service centers will include 23 regional offices.
During 2017, the main activity of the company will be concentrated on providing high-quality and affordable services to agricultural enterprises of any size, as well as on increasing the customer base in Ukraine. In addition, research and development work will be a priority activity: about 30% of the company’s profits will be directed to the development of the research and development (R&D) division. DroneUA Agroservice's assets include its own research center, created on the basis of an agricultural enterprise in the Cherkasy region, with a total area of 1477 hectares.
In 2018, it is planned to increase the volume of enterprises served by subscription to 1 million hectares, and the total client land bank in Ukraine – up to 5.5 million hectares. Also, in 2018, DroneUA Agroservice plans to enter foreign markets using a service business model and remote information processing processes.
The joint venture between DroneUA and SAS will become an independent agricultural service company on the Ukrainian market. Other areas of DroneUA's activities, such as the development of UAV platforms and suspended equipment, distribution of UAV equipment, provision of industry, including agricultural, solutions, as well as service areas, remain in the structure of DroneUA's business.
Information about companies:
DroneUA— leading integrator of unmanned technologies on the Ukrainian market. The company operates in the agricultural sector, in the energy and oil and gas industries, as well as in the fields of geodesy and topography. The main areas of work of DroneUA are the development and implementation of industry solutions based on drone technology; provision of services using UAVs, as well as processing of data obtained using drones. Drone.UA technologies are used on more than 2 million hectares of cultivated areas in Ukraine. In 2016, DroneUA was included in the list of TOP 20 most innovative enterprises in Ukraine according to Forbes, as well as in the TOP 3 most innovative enterprises in the agricultural industry.
Agricultural Systems Studio – an innovative Ukrainian company specializing in remote monitoring of agricultural land around the world, which includes operational monitoring of the condition of crop areas, satellite and GPS monitoring, auto documentation, forecasting and planning of agricultural operations. The company is one of the largest players in the Ukrainian agricultural consulting market, servicing over 1 million hectares of cultivated area.
