Aria Insights
The final form of CyPhy Works, the tethered-drone maker founded by iRobot's co-founder
- Founded
- 2008
- Closed
- 2019
- Lifespan
- 11 years
- Total funding
- $39 million
- Country
- United States
- City
- Danvers
- Sector
- Hardware
- Founders
- Helen Greiner
- Investors
- Bessemer Venture Partners, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Draper Nexus, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund
- At its peak
- Raised a $22 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners in October 2015.
- Cause of closure
- Failed pivot
What did it do?
Founded as CyPhy Works, the company developed a drone called PARC that stayed tethered to the ground by a thin microfilament cable, drawing both its power and a secure data link through it. Able to stay airborne for days, the system was sold for surveillance and communications to sectors such as the military, law enforcement, oil and gas, and telecoms; in January 2019, as Aria Insights, the company turned to analysing drone data with super intelligence.
Why did it shut down?
Founded in 2008 by Helen Greiner, one of iRobot's co-founders, the company raised a total of $39 million over seven rounds; a $22 million Series B in October 2015 was meant to take PARC into mass production. Greiner left the company in 2017, and $4.6 million in debt financing was secured in June 2018. In January 2019 the company renamed itself Aria Insights and tried to move from hardware supplier to data analytics. Just two months after that transformation, on 21 March 2019, it ceased operations without giving a reason. The trade publication The Drone Girl pointed out that making a profit from hardware in a market dominated by DJI had also hurt other manufacturers; the company's intellectual property and remaining assets were sold to FLIR Systems in October 2019.
The story
Helen Greiner was one of the co-founders of the robotics company iRobot. With CyPhy Works, which she founded in Danvers, Massachusetts, in 2008, she turned her attention to the sky. The company's best-known product, PARC, was a drone that stayed tethered to the ground by a thin microfilament cable. Because the cable provided both power and a secure communications line, the vehicle could hover at a height of around 150 metres for 100 hours. That made it a surveillance tool that attracted the interest of the military, law enforcement and the teams providing security at large events.
In October 2015 the company raised a $22 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners; the aim of the round was to take PARC into mass production. According to The Robot Report, CyPhy raised $39 million in total over seven rounds. But Greiner left the company in 2017, and $4.6 million in debt financing was secured in June 2018.
In January 2019 the company changed its name to Aria Insights. CEO Lance Vanden Brook explained that they wanted to move beyond being purely a hardware supplier and quickly turn the data collected by drones into actionable insights. The transformation lasted just two months. On 21 March 2019 the company announced in a short statement that it had ceased operations, without giving a reason.
Trade publications read the closure as part of a consolidation in drone manufacturing. The Drone Girl pointed out that making a profit from hardware in a market dominated by DJI had also hurt companies such as 3D Robotics and Airware. In October 2019 FLIR Systems bought the company's intellectual property and remaining assets for an undisclosed sum. CyPhy's story shows how hard it is for even a strong piece of engineering to survive on a narrow customer base and expensive hardware manufacturing.
Lessons for founders
- If you want to turn a hardware business into a software and analytics service, start the transition while existing revenue is still coming in, not when you have only a few months of cash left.
- Taking a niche product that grew on military and government orders into the civilian market requires a separate sales and pricing approach; it will not happen by itself with the same team.
- A rebrand that comes without showing customers a new product does not solve a funding problem; first prove that the new model brings in revenue.
Sources
- Drone analytics startup Aria Insights suddenly shutters (TechCrunch, 2019-03-22)
- Drone maker Aria Insights, formerly CyPhy Works, shuts down (The Robot Report, 2019-03-21)
- CyPhy Works shuts down, FLIR acquires tethered drone company's assets (The Drone Girl, 2019-10-03)
- More Funding For Drone Maker CyPhy (PYMNTS, 2015-10-14)
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