Drone Company Flytrex Secures $7.5 Million

Flytrex, a six-year-old Israeli startup, has raised $7.5 million in Series B financing, according to a report in VentureBeat.

The funding round was led by Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV) with additional capital from Btov. The company received $3 million in Series A funding in June 2017, bringing the total raised to $10.5 million.

Flytrex claims to have the first “golf course delivery system” in the United States, as well as an aerial mail delivery program in the Ukraine. The company also partnered with online marketplace Aha in 2017 to debut an on-demand delivery service in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

The money, according to company CEO and Co-founder Yariv Bash, will be utilized to beef up operations and make improvements to the company’s drone services. Flytrex also has plans to expand into North Carolina.

“Drone delivery is taking off, and we are delighted that BGV and Btov will be joining us in making drone deliveries a global reality,” Bash said. “This investment is a vote of confidence in Flytrex’s ongoing success propelling the drone industry forward and in our vision of making UAV delivery the rule, rather than the exception.”

Flytrex uses what it calls “InAir,” a proprietary delivery system that attaches packages to a tethered cord that slowly lowers them to the ground after a recipient confirms that they’re close.

For the golf course deliveries, Flytrex delivers items to customers at previously selected geofenced locations. The clubhouse makes the order and sends it off, and the drone stays in the air until it’s time to deliver.

There are rules that Flytrex has to follow for drone flying. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Part 107 says drones can’t fly with 500 feet of non-participating people and structures, which means the drones have to stay in the line of sight and fly routes without people under them.

However, some people are trying to change those regulations. In May of 2010, a few states were selected to be part of the UAS Integration Pilot program, with the goal of creating traffic management systems that can accommodate drone traffic.