DJI and Accel Launch Fund to Stimulate UAV Developer Ecosystem

skyfundDJI, a global leader in developing and manufacturing innovative camera technology for commercial and recreational use, and Accel Partners, a global venture capital firm, have teamed up to launch a fund dedicated to stimulating the UAV developer ecosystem.

Pased in Palo Alto, CA, SkyFund will invest in early-stage companies across the categories of robotics and machine intelligence, software, computer vision and navigation, multimedia communities and tools, services, etc. In particular, it will support entrepreneurs and developers building on the DJI SDK to create industry-specific software applications for mapping, imaging, agriculture, inspection and beyond to accelerate innovation across dozens of industries around the world, including photography, video and film, emergency response, environment research, surveying and mapping, agriculture, real estate, logistics and distribution, construction and more.

In addition to seed capital, companies will gain access to a range of resources through DJI and Accel and to an advisory board composed of leaders, practitioners, hackers and academics across the UAV landscape.
Inaugural members of the advisory board include:
Greg Duffy, Founder of Dropcam (and licensed helicopter pilot);
Dr. Vijay Kumar, Dean of Engineering and Director of the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania;
Sam Lessin, former Head of Product Management at Facebook;
Nick Schrock, Director of Engineering at Facebook;
Jeff Seibert, Director of Developer Platform at Twitter;
Anne Swanson, Partner in Cooley LLP’s Regulatory Communications Practice; and
Dick Wolf, TV producer.

FinSMEs

27/05/2015

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