CategoryDrones
Appears inLogistics robots/Delivery drones
Models
1
Employees
11
Overview
Irish-French drone delivery and logistics company developing autonomous long-range delivery drones for rural and remote B2B logistics. Founded by Etienne Louvet in 2021, the company relocated from London to Shannon, County Clare, leveraging Ireland's supportive drone regulation environment. Its Sonnet tilt-rotor aircraft carries up to 14kg over 100-200km routes, with a full white-label stack (aircraft, ground infrastructure, Cosmogony TMS, and regulatory compliance) for 3PL providers. IONA has secured nearly €4.5M in investment, per Everywhere VC, and is a designated High Potential Start-Up by Enterprise Ireland.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
Base (reported, Jun 2025)
Backers (reported, Jun 2025)
Cargo drones (reported)
Timeline (reported, Jun 2025)
Consortium grant (reported, Oct 2025)
Data & sources
Web sources
3
3 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Partnerships
Every company IONA has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1ÉireComposites1× joint
- 2Technological University Dublin1× joint
Most recent
- IONA x ÉireComposites (LIFT Project)2025-12-08with ÉireCompositesoperating
IONA on the deployment map
View the global mapIONA has no verified deployments on the DEPLOY registry yet. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
No verified deployments for IONA on the DEPLOY record yet. Track IONA to know the moment the first one is verified.
Relationships
Current leadership (2)
- Etienne Louvet Founder & CEO, Foundersecondary-verified
- Jonny Miller COOsecondary-verified
Founders (1)
Safety record
No incidents on record for IONA.
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 →
Recent coverage
IONA in third-party press
Iona Takes Flight: Drone Deliveries Set to Transform Ireland's Logistics Landscape
Cork-Shannon parcel drone deliveries and shopping drops to islands all on Iona's radar
ÉireComposites partners with IONA and TU Dublin on €3.8 million LIFT Project to transform drone logistics
Peers
95 peers across 1 segment. Every IONA competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
drone(95)
57 companies in this segment · moderately_concentrated (HHI 1809.2177305910177) · leader Anduril Industries at 3057%
- AEVEX Aerospacedirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- ATL Global Holding AGdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Aereodirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AeroVironmentdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AgXeeddirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- AirForestrydirect competitor(inferred)moderate
Mentioned on (2)
Registry pages whose text names IONA.
People (2)
Financial state
- Employees
- 11
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.
Partnerships
1 total · 1 operating
Every company IONA has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- IONA x ÉireComposites (LIFT Project)2025-12-08with ÉireCompositesoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1ÉireComposites1× joint
- 2Technological University Dublin1× joint
All 1 partnerships
open in the atlas →- IONA x ÉireComposites (LIFT Project)withÉireComposites,Technological University Dublinmanufacturing2025-12-08operating
Funding rounds (1)
- Seed2025-09-08
Timeline
Every recorded move in IONA’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
PartnershipIONA x ÉireComposites (LIFT Project)
2025-12-08IONA partners with ÉireComposites (Galway) and TU Dublin on the €3.8M DTIF-funded LIFT Project (Logistics Innovation for Flight Transport) to develop and manufacture next-generation composite airframes for IONA's delivery drones. ÉireComposites applies aerospace-grade composite manufacturing expertise to produce lighter, stronger drone airframes at scale.
Funding roundGrant funding round
2025-10-24Grant raising $4000000
Funding roundSeed funding round
2025-09-08Seed raising $2000000
Funding roundPre-Seed funding round
2024-09-24Pre-Seed raising $600000
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 8, 2026
Added to the verified registry
Sources (3)
- https://ideas.everywhere.vc/p/iona-drone-deliveries-transform-ireland-logistics
- https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/2025/06/12/revolutionising-rural-deliveries-with-drones-and-robotic-hubs/
- https://www.tudublin.ie/research-innovation/news/archive-2025/tu-dublin-research-to-play-key-role-in-38-million-lift-drone-technology-project.php
Common questions
What is IONA?
What does IONA make?
Is IONA publicly traded?
Who competes with IONA?
Who is the CEO of IONA?
How can I invest in IONA?
Where is IONA headquartered?
Who owns IONA?
Where does IONA operate robots?
Is IONA a top robotics company?
When was IONA founded?
Is IONA safe?
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-20
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-20
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for IONA.Peer companies
- Amazon25 models
- DJI9 models
- Anduril Industries7 models
- Skydio6 models
- Autel Robotics4 models
- Baykar4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning IONA from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Iona Takes Flight: Drone Deliveries Set to Transform Ireland's Logistics Landscape
Everywhere VC profile of IONA's preparations to launch Ireland's first commercial drone delivery operations, including its partnership with ÉireComposites and talks with DPD and…
Cork-Shannon parcel drone deliveries and shopping drops to islands all on Iona's radar
Irish Examiner feature on IONA's plans for Ireland's first commercial drone delivery operations, covering its €4.5M funding, Shannon hub, and B2B logistics model.
ÉireComposites partners with IONA and TU Dublin on €3.8 million LIFT Project to transform drone logistics
Press release on the €3.8M DTIF-funded LIFT Project led by IONA with ÉireComposites and TU Dublin to advance drone airframe manufacturing for rural delivery logistics.
Rural Ireland might get drone deliveries by next year
Silicon Republic interview with IONA founder Etienne Louvet on the company's tilt-rotor drone technology and plans to launch rural drone deliveries in Ireland by late 2025.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/iona-drones.md
- RSS feed: /companies/iona-drones/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/ffd343c8-1de2-4f70-92ab-f0b2872c8ade
- Revision history: /companies/iona-drones/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
Introducing the #OPPOAirGlass3 concept product with AI-powered functionality. Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/@OPPOglobal?sub_confirmation=1 Follow us across the web: Instagram: http://instagram.com/oppo Tw
IONA builds the infrastructure that lets logistics operators move light cargo faster, further, and at lower cost - using integrated robotics and software that s
Iona Fusion Team 7433 presents out 2021 FRC Robot for Infinite Recharge Song Feature - Roby Fayer - Ready To Fight (Ft.Tom Gefen)
IONA - Robot Monitoring and Control Find out more at: insphereltd.com/iona
"We see IONA having an integral role in the future of advanced manufacturing." James Allum, Senior Manufacturing Research Engineer AMRC Cymru
The IONA system is a scalable network of sensors providing metrology-grade positional data of automated manufacturing processes. Live positional data from ION
IONA is a network of sensors designed to monitor and control industrial robots. The system can monitor the robot but also the relationship between with the rob
The data from IONA can be used at 3 key stages of manufacturing: 1 - Commissioning stage, to correct for the differences that occur between the simulation or t
SYNOPSIS Speaker: Dr. Tesfamichael Getahun Rural road networks often lack the physical and digital infrastructure required for the safe and reliable operation
Heat Index
Category contender77/100
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
IONA draws attention at the 55th percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Limited public funding data for capital position assessment.
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