The Top Drone Service Providers of 2021

Following numerous requests by our clients, customers, and readers, DRONEII is delighted to bring you our Drone Service Provider Ranking 2021 Report. It ranks the top drone service providers in the world using company size & development, market shares, and public attention as key parameters.

The report is an assessment of roughly 400 global companies whose core business is to offer services with drones to third parties, hence why they’re called Drone Service Providers. Companies which use drones inhouse, e.g. for surveying, are not considered in this ranking. A distinction is made between remote-sensing (Top 40) and delivery (Top 20) drone service providers. In addition, the report comes with a comprehensive database of 800+ DSPs with company information (not ranked).

Geographical dispersion:

There are top service providers all over the world – in fact, companies from 16 different countries (19 in last year’s ranking) made the Top 40 Drone Service Provider ranking in the remote sensing segment and 15 (15 last year as well) different nations are among the Top 20 of drone delivery segment.

Still strong US & UK presence: The United States has the most leading remote-sensing and delivery drone providers, with a whopping 8 (9) and 6 (6) companies, respectively. The United Kingdom follows with 5 (6) remote sensing drone providers and 1 (1) delivery drone provider.

New companies amongst the Top 40 remote-sensing companies: Despite considering over 800 companies, there are six completely new Remote-Sensing Drone Service companies in the Top 40. Seven others made it into the Top 40 for the first time this year. A couple of companies were able to grow rapidly by acquiring other companies.

Aerodyne: The Malaysian-based company is ranked No. 1 in the Remote-Sensing Drone Service Provider rankings for the first time this year. With the acquisitions of Falcon Eye Drones from the United Arab Emirates (ranked 5th last year) and the drones services devision of US Measure (narrowly missing the top 40 last year), Aerodyne has continued its strong expansion strategy, growing strongly and entering new markets around the world.

Terra Drone: After two years at the top of the remote-sensing rankings, Terra Drone from Japan had to settle for second place this year. Like Aerodyne, Terra Drone is pursuing a strong expansion strategy with offices around the world. Just earlier this year, the company raised another $14.5 million in a Series A funding round.

Cyberhawk: The British company was founded in 2008 and is highly respected in the drone industry thanks to its extensive experience and high-quality results. The industry pioneer, which delivered its service in over 30 countries all around the world, was able to increase its turnover by more than 50% in 2020 and made it 3rd in the Remote-Sensing Drone Service Provider ranking.

Zipline: Zipline is the world’s leading provider of drone delivery services for the fourth year in a row according to our Drone Service Provider ranking. The company, which originally delivered blood in Africa, is now also moving into retail delivery, as shown by a partnership with Walmart signed earlier this year. With more than 13 million total miles flown and nearly 1.2 million products delivered (including about 200,000 commercial deliveries), Zipline is the benchmark among delivery DSPs.

Wing: Coming in at No. 2 is Silicon Valley-based Wing, an on-demand drone delivery service that primarily delivers food and medicine. The company has made about 100,000 deliveries in total and currently operates in three countries: Australia, Finland and the United States. The company has also developed an unmanned traffic management platform to safely guide drones through the sky. Wing was originally founded in 2012 as part of “X,” the Moonshot Factory, and is now a wholly owned Alphabet company and a sister company of Google Inc.

Matternet: 3rd place again goes to the Swiss company Matternet. It was one of the first drone companies when it came to transporting medical samples or materials. Together with UPS, Matternet was an early demonstrator of the benefits of drone transport in hospitals and laboratories. Matternet enabled the first drone transport of Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. with end-to-end cold chain at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. Swiss Post also trusts Matternet’s product.

This year’s ranking shows that there are some established companies that have been able to secure a firm place in the Drone Service Provider Ranking in recent years. On the other hand, new companies continue to make it to the top spots through funding, mergers and acquisitions, and/or good work. While there is a higher fluctuation among remote-sensing drone providers, it is more consistent among delivery service providers. This could be due to higher entry barriers to entry and thus fewer new players venturing into the delivery market. If you are interested in how and where the drone market is going, you might also be interested in the Drone Market Report 2021-2026.