drones Archives - StartupsSanAntonio.com

Darkhive drone startup wins $5M Air Force contract for advanced drone autonomy

6Jul

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Darkhive drone startup wins $5M Air Force contract for advanced drone autonomy

San Antonio-based Darkhive is one step closer to scaling its autonomous uncrewed drone systems for military and public safety use. The startup has won a $5 million Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the U.S. Air Force AFWERX Autonomy Prime.AFWERX, the Air Force office in charge of finding new and innovative ways to use technology, has set up a new program called Autonomy Prime to learn about the autonomous technologies companies have under development — and how the military could adapt them for its missions.Defense industry executive and U.S. Special Operations veteran John Goodson launched Darkhive in Sept. 2021. Since then, he and chief technology officer Steven Turner have developed an effective, affordable alternative for military and law enforcem...

Darkhive drone startup closes $1M pre-seed funding

19Dec

By Iris GonzalezNo Comments

Articles, Featured

Darkhive drone startup closes $1M pre-seed funding

Darkhive closed its $1.1 million in pre-seed funding for its affordable drones explicitly designed for military and public safety use. Alamo Angels, a San Antonio-based angel investing group, also participated in Darkhive’s pre-seed funding round. Defense industry executive and U.S. Special Operations veteran John Goodson launched Darkhive in Sept. 2021. Since then, he and chief technology officer Steven Turner have been developing an effective, affordable alternative for military and law enforcement use. Both Goodson and Turner have extensive backgrounds in systems engineering and the defense sector. They are producing affordable alternatives because the drones produced domestically for the military and public safety sectors are much too expensive for practical use. “We have o...

AVA Propulsion Builds Large-Scale Drones for Delivery

8Feb

By Iris Gonzalez1 Comment

Articles, Featured

AVA Propulsion Builds Large-Scale Drones for Delivery

The future of product and people delivery via large drones is not as far off as you might think, especially if you ask AVA Propulsion, a San Antonio-based drone-building startup.David Gonzales, chief executive officer (CEO) and Kyle Johnson, president, are developing and building hardware and software for large-scale vertical take-off and landing autonomous drones that can move cargo or transport a person to hard-to-reach places.AVA Propulsion, Inc. (which does business as Aerial Vehicle Automation) has two models depending on customer needs. Their X8 is an electric multi-rotor platform that can deliver payloads up to 400 pounds over shorter distances. Their Winged X8 is a gasoline-electric hybrid platform for flying 200 miles with five flight hours. The Winged X8 takes off vertica...