Drone software company Kittyhawk has raised an additional $5 million in venture capital from investors such as Bonfire Ventures, Boeing Horizon X, Freestyle Ventures, and Kluz Ventures’ The Flying Object. Kittyhawk also announced that Jim Andelman, managing partner at Bonfire Ventures, will be joining the Kittyhawk board of directors.

Kittyhawk provides an enterprise solution that unifies the mission, aircraft, and data to manage in-house commercial UAS operations. The company has developed an artificial intelligence feature called Hawkeye that it claims will enable increased oversight of the exponential growth in drone flights, particularly future autonomous operations.  

“When paired with the broad portfolio of complementary data service offerings within Boeing, Kittyhawk is poised to help us shape the future of safe autonomous flight,” said Brian Schettler, managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. “Boeing’s partnership with Kittyhawk on the FAA Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability [LAANC] program heralds the continued maturation of the commercial drone industry,” he said. 

Kittyhawk is partnering with Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen to expand unmanned operations by participating in the U.S. FAA's LAANC program, a collaborative effort to create UTM processes that integrate unmanned aircraft, cargo delivery, and beyond visual-line-of-sight operations safely into the National Airspace System.