DJI is certainly the world’s biggest drone maker, but who are the biggest companies actually operating drones? German-based drone industry analysis company Drone Industry Insights ranked the top drone service providers of 2022 to find out.
DII’s report, released in November 2022, analyzed 850 drone companies worldwide, considering metrics including employee size, growth and public attention to define the top drone service providers of 2022. When it comes to remote-sensing service providers here were the top five biggest ones:
- Aerodyne Group (based in Kuala Lumpur)
- Terra Drone Corporation (based in Japan)
- Cyberhawk (based in the United Kingdom)
- Nordic Unmanned (based in Norway)
- Field Group (based in Norway)
The top three remote sensing drone companies – Aerodyne, Terra Drone and Cyberhawk — were also the top three last year in DII’s list of top drone service providers of 2021 and in 2020, though their order has slightly switched, with Aerodyne rising up to the top this time around.
Aerodyne positions itself as a one-stop-shop for getting you actionable aerial data, promising to plan flights, actual run them, help you comply with regulatory requirements, develop the method statement, perform job safety analysis and risk identification.
And Aeroodyne has been rapidly growing, reportedly with double the number of employees of second-place Terra Drone, according to DII. That’s no small feat, considering Terra Drone itself is huge, having accumulated $85 million of investment spread across five deals since its inception in 2016.
One of the biggest changes on this year’s list versus last is Norwegian Nordic Unmanned, which doubled its number of employees and increased its rank by five spots since ast year (it’s now the fourth largest drone service provider).
Interestingly, the best companies for remote sensing only feature 5 American companies in the top 20. No U.S. companies cracked the top five.
And while remote sensing is a somewhat broad topic, most are contained to a few sectors. Almost all of the top 20 remote sensing companies prioritize and are active in the Energy Industry.
“This is not only a major industry in terms of the importance of utilities and the money involved, but also in the way that drone technology provides unique improvements to efficiency, safety and savings of both time and money,” according to a statement from DII.
Separately, DII also analyzed the top five drone delivery service providers. Find out the biggest drone delivery companies of 2022 here.
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