CategoryDrones
Appears inLogistics robots/Delivery drones
Overview
Virginia Beach-based drone delivery company that pivoted to airspace management after Walmart ended its delivery contract in early 2025. Had operated drone delivery networks for Walmart across 34 sites reaching 4 million U.S. households. Founded by Tom Walker. Raised USD 8.95M from Walmart and Center for Innovative Technology. Now building airspace management technology for drone operations.
Reality check
Walmart contract ended (company-claimed)
The Walmart drone delivery contract expired unrenewed; Walmart continues with Zipline and Wing.
After Walmart (company-claimed)
Jan 2025: DroneUp confirmed the contract ended and said it would keep serving other businesses.
ATOMx platform (company-claimed)
Digital airspace management for authorities to oversee and coordinate autonomous airspace operations, with audit trails.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 4 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
Operations
Data & sources
Web sources
3
3 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →DroneUp on the deployment map
View the global map4 verified deployments across 3 regions, newest verified Oct 2022. Explore where DroneUp's robots are operating, by place and type.
- operationalDroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Tampa →Florida · verified Oct 2022
- operationalDroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Phoenix →Southwest · verified Oct 2022
- operationalDroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, USA →Southwest · verified May 2022
- operationalDroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Bentonville →Arkansas · verified Jan 2022
View the full DroneUp deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (2)
- Tom Walker CEO & Foundersecondary-verified
- Tom Walker CEOreported, not verified
Founders (2)
- Tom Walkersole
- Tom Walkersole
Safety record
No incidents on record for DroneUp.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operator customers (1)
- DroneUp4 deployments
Recent coverage
DroneUp in third-party press
Peers
99 peers across 2 segments. Every DroneUp competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
drone(96)
57 companies in this segment · moderately_concentrated (HHI 1809.2177305910177) · leader Anduril Industries at 3057%
- Manna Air Deliverydirect competitor(inferred)strong
- AEVEX Aerospacedirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- ATL Global Holding AGdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Aereodirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AeroVironmentdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AgXeeddirect competitor(inferred)moderate
Mentioned on (4)
Registry pages whose text names DroneUp.
Financial state
- Total funding
- $50.0M
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 8, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedOct 1, 2022
DroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Phoenix
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedOct 1, 2022
DroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Tampa
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedMay 24, 2022
DroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, USA
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJan 1, 2022
DroneUp Autonomous Ecosystem at Bentonville
Sources (3)
- https://www.commercialuavnews.com/drone-delivery/droneup-reinvents-last-mile-logistics-with-the-launch-of-the-industry-s-first-drone-autonomous-ecosystem
- https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/jan/07/walmart-inc-drone-delivery-partner-droneup-part/
- https://www.droneup.com/news/introducing-atom-air-traffic-operations-management-for-airspace-authorities
Common questions
What is DroneUp?
What does DroneUp make?
Is DroneUp publicly traded?
Who competes with DroneUp?
Who is the CEO of DroneUp?
How can I invest in DroneUp?
Where is DroneUp headquartered?
How much funding has DroneUp raised?
Who owns DroneUp?
Where does DroneUp operate robots?
How many robots has DroneUp deployed?
Is DroneUp a top robotics company?
Is DroneUp safe?
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-13
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-13
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for DroneUp.Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- DJI9 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- Skydio6 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
- Baykar4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning DroneUp from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
State-Backed Drone Initiative Takes Off: Blueflite Drones to Deliver Auto Parts in Detroit
DETROIT, MI – July 17, 2025 – blueflite, Jack Demmer Ford, Centrepolis Accelerator, Airspace Link, and DroneUp have joined forces to launch a pioneering drone delivery initiative…
Virginia Beach tech startup falls to earth
Walmart ended its contract with DroneUp in early 2025. The company pivoted from drone delivery to airspace management technology. Founder Tom Walker cited insufficient technology…
Walmart Brings Drone Delivery to 4 Million U.S. Households with DroneUp
Walmart expanded DroneUp delivery network to 34 sites reaching 4 million U.S. households. Major drone delivery partnership launched in 2022.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/droneup.md
- RSS feed: /companies/droneup/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/6dc76c89-c525-4973-9816-d4d5d3040cbb
- Revision history: /companies/droneup/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- DJI9 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- Skydio6 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
- Baykar4 models
Video
Join us in learning about the recent up-comings in the drone community. DroneUp, a DSP, has squired the former LAANC provider, Airmap. The Drone Racing League h
The Walmart DroneUp program has delivery hubs at stores in Bentonville, Rogers and Farmington, all allowing the company to deliver within 30 minutes for four do
Walmart DroneUp grocery delivery drone landing! Interesting setup with deployable tower in Rogers Arkansas. I can’t believe this is real. The future is here! D
Leveraging DroneUp technology, our delivery and flight services transform business operations and improve people’s lives within the communities we serve. Our d
DroneUp was pleased to participate in a consumer product launch in Coffee County, GA the week of January 25, 2021. Our engineers, drone delivery pilots, and sup
DroneUp partnered with Walmart and Questo Diagnostics to deliver at-home COVID-19 test kits to residential areas. This groundbreaking drone delivery project suc
NATO partnered with DroneUp to test new drone technology for autonomous drone deliveries. This drone delivery system is activated when a soldier presses a butto
DroneUp is the leading complete drone services provider, transforming businesses and government organizations with drone technology solutions. DroneUp’s diverse
This month’s installment of DroneUp’s Industry Insights series is about drones for roof inspections. Drone technology helps with employee safety, as roofing sev
Our partnership with Carilion shows the speed and efficiency of inter-campus medical drone delivery, whether a drone is picking up from a pharmacy or dropping o
DroneUp Tests Wonder Robotics “WonderLand” Precision Landing Solution Posted By: Miriam McNabbon: May 12, 2023 DroneUp and Wonder Robotics Partner on Precision
Heat Index
Category contender75/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
DroneUp draws attention at the 19th percentile but verifies reality at the 70th percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap -51.2, 103rd widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 4 verified deployments. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Nov 7, 2026