Telecommunication’s giant Verizon is shutting down Portland-based drone management business Skyward, a business it bought in 2017.
A note to customers that was posted by recipients to Linkedin said the business will be “ending operations in the coming weeks.” Several employees who are being let go also posted about the shutdown on the professional social network.
Verizon issued this short statement:
Skyward, a Verizon company is exiting its drone business. The company remains focused on its investment in ground robotic management, connectivity services, and solution development. The Verizon Robotics Group enables enterprise customers to efficiently adopt and scale Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) to improve productivity, deliver faster time to insight, and reduce costs through automation and 5G.
This decision is about market agility and ensuring that Verizon continues to focus on areas that provide both near and mid-term growth opportunities. We continue to focus our investment on ground robotics including incubedIT, supporting industrial and outdoor uses in the US and Europe
At the time of purchase, the Verizon Press Release stated:
Building on its strategy to drive innovation and adoption for IoT services in high-growth markets, Verizon announced that it has purchased Skyward, a private company based in Portland, Oregon. Skyward brings drone operations management to the Verizon IoT portfolio, simplifying drone operations and management for organizations of any size.
Verizon did not disclose the terms of the deal, but the telecom giant did invest in Skyward in 2015 as part of a round that raised a total of $4.1 million for the company.
Photo: Jonathan Evans, Skyward Co-President in happier times ( He left in 2019 and is currently Cofounder and CEO at KinectAir)
Sources: PortlandInno