New York City, New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) has purchased Portland, Oregon-based Skyward, a private company providing drone operations management, the company said.
Verizon Ventures, the company´s venture capital division, brought Skyward in as an IoT portfolio company. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
With Skyward´s technology, Verizon will streamline the management of drone operations through one platform designed to handle end-to-end activities such as mission planning, complex workflow, FAA compliance support, supplying information about restricted airspace and pilot credentialing, drone registration and provisioning rate plans for drones on Verizon´s network.
GCA Advisors LLC acted as financial advisor to Skyward, and Perkins Coie LLP acted as legal advisor.
Verizon Communications has a diverse workforce of 160,900 and generated nearly USD 126bn in 2016 revenues. Verizon´s wireless network consists of 114.2 million retail connections nationwide.
Skyward provides operations management solutions for commercial drone businesses. The company connects all of the people, projects, and equipment in a drone program into one efficient workflow.
