RALEIGH — Raleigh start-up – once a darling for investors such as former Red Hat CEO Bob Young – PrecisionHawk is closing its doors.
The company submitted paperwork recently in North Carolina Eastern Bankruptcy Court for a Chapter 7 filing. According to the paperwork, PrecisionHawk creditors will be meeting in January.
Among the company’s $17 million in debt is overdue rent of nearly $250,000 for its headquarters in the Creamery Building on Glenwood South. According to LinkedIn, the company has between 51 and 200 employees.
Earlier this year PrecisionHawk was bought by Field Group, a European company focused on data analysis solutions for the infrastructure, construction, environment, and public service sectors. The announcement in March promised the headquarters would remain in Raleigh with the company taking on the “Field” name. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed.
European firm buys Raleigh-based drone technology company-Precisionhawk
Field did disclose the planned closing in October of this year, but the announcement received scant notice alongside big changes to Field leadership, including the replacement of the company Board Chair Arild Austigard, and CEO, Cato Vevatne. Interim CEO Krister Pedersen acknowledged the need to close the PrecisionHawk office in the same post.
“We knew it would be a challenge to make PrecisionHawk profitable in the short term. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t turn it around in time, and we have had to close the office. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was a necessary one,” said Pedersen in the announcement.
Leaving a Legacy
The company has seen lots of success since its start in 2010. Originally named “WineHawk” early development of the company’s drone technology chased birds away from vineyards. Future iterations expanded to agriculture and other aerial data, leading to the rebranding into “PrecisionHawk.”
In 2013 the company raised $1 million in its Series A, aided by Young, a co-founder of Red Hat. Further funding followed, including a 2018 Series D which brought in more than $100 million. In 2020, the company raised a further $32 million during a Series E round.
Making drones smarter: Startup from former PrecisionHawk execs exits stealth, lands funding
While it might be bad news for PrecisionHawk, the company’s former leaders are doing just fine.
Patrick Lohman, the PrecisionHawk COO until the Field takeover in March, is now the CEO of Cloneable, a new drone company that emerged from “stealth” mode last month. Lia Reich and Tyler Collins, two other members of the Clonable C-suite also left PrecisionHawk in March to join the new venture.
Cloneable uses artificial intelligence tools on “edge” devices like drones, tablets, and IoT (internet of things) projects in the field.
