DEPLOYDatabase

Company

Skydio

American autonomous-drone maker (San Mateo, founded 2014 by [Adam Bry](/people/adam-bry), [Abraham Bachrach](/people/abraham-bachrach), and [Matt…

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Founded
2014
HQ
San Mateo, California, USA
Status
private

Appears inMilitary & defense drones

Funding

$110.0M

Models

3

Patents

4

Overview

American autonomous-drone maker (San Mateo, founded 2014 by Adam Bry, Abraham Bachrach, and Matt Donahoe). The largest US drone manufacturer. Exited the consumer market in 2023 to focus on public-safety, enterprise, and defense; its X10/X10D platforms run the onboard Skydio Autonomy Engine. Privately held; raised a $110M Series F at a $4.4B valuation in April 2026.

Verified record

Verified deployments
None on file
Active incidents
2 incidents on file

DEPLOY Intelligence

Market intelligence for physical AI

Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.

Key facts

Founded

2014, San Mateo, California, by Adam Bry, Abraham Bachrach, Matt Donahoe

Market position

Largest US drone manufacturer

Funding

$110M Series F at $4.4B valuation (Apr 2026); prior $230M Series E (2023)

US manufacturing

$3.5B SkyForge US manufacturing expansion (2026)

Defense status

Skydio X10D on the DoD Blue UAS cleared list

Data & sources

Press releases

3

News coverage

3

Patent documents

4

Web sources

6

16 sources backing this record.View all →

Claims ledger

Public, dated claims by Skydio, each tracked against the evidence. Status is a DEPLOY assessment from primary sources: verified means an independent source confirms it; contradicted means one refutes it; open means the outcome is not yet determinable. Every entry keeps its verbatim quote and source so you can check the call yourself.

Claim Integrity: 100% (3 of 3 resolved claims verified; 4 tracked)
  • OpenCapacity · claimed 2026-04-24
    $1 billion to domestic suppliers

    Skydio announced a $1B commitment to domestic suppliers. This is a forward-looking investment pledge, not a completed spend. Timeline for the $1B commitment is not specified. https://www.skydio.com/

  • VerifiedCustomer · claimed 2026-03-01
    The U.S. Army's $52 million order for nearly 3,000 X10D drones in March 2026 was the largest single-vendor small UAS purchase in U.S. military

    $52M US Army order for X10D confirmed on Skydio blog. Added to DoD Blue UAS cleared list. Spain Ministry of Defence also selected X10D. https://www.skydio.com/blog/u-s-army-usd52-million-order-skydio-x10d

  • VerifiedCapacity · claimed 2026-01-01
    Skydio raises $110M Series F at $4.4B valuation

    Series F funding round confirmed. $4.4B valuation. Skydio is the leading US drone manufacturer. https://www.skydio.com/

  • VerifiedCapability · claimed 2026-01-01
    The world's only onboard AI that supports autonomous flight in low- or no-light environments

    NightSense is an onboard AI capability on the X10D. DoD Blue UAS clearance validates the claim. No competitor has demonstrated equivalent no-light autonomous flight capability. https://www.skydio.com/x10d

Disagree with a status? Skydio can submit a correction with evidence and we log the response on the record. Methodology and the full industry ledger live at /stats/claim-integrity.

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Skydio, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

  • What is an autonomous drone?

    An autonomous drone is an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) whose flight is directed by onboard AI + autonomy stack rather than continuous human remote-piloting. Per DEPLOY's framework, the cohort splits across three classes with distinct verification anchors: new-defense (Anduril Roadrunner/Fury/Ghost/Bolt + Helsing HX-2/HF-1 + Shield AI V-BAT + Quantum Systems + Neros); legacy-prime (General Atomics MQ-9 lifecycle); commercial-civilian (Skydio + Zipline + Wing + Matternet + Brinc + Wingcopter + XAG + Percepto + Flytrex). Gating events split by class: BVLOS regulatory clearance for commercial; DoD contracts + fielded systems for defense. Editorial discipline: remotely-piloted-vs-autonomous honesty matters; MQ-9 + TB2 + Neros Archer are recorded as remotely-piloted, not autonomous. The framework resists 'drone = AI' inflation.

  • Is the Skydio X10 autonomous?

    Partly, and honestly. The Skydio X10 has genuine onboard autonomy: real obstacle avoidance and self-flight via the Skydio Autonomy Engine. But its Drone-as-First-Responder missions are operator-deployed and supervised, not autonomous decision-making. It is an enterprise and public-safety quadcopter, in production since 2023.

  • What is the Skydio X10?

    The Skydio X10 is an American enterprise and public-safety quadcopter drone, in production since 2023. It runs the Skydio Autonomy Engine for onboard obstacle avoidance and autonomous flight, and is often deployed in a Drone-as-First-Responder model, launching from a dock to respond to emergency calls.

  • How much does the Skydio X10 cost?

    Skydio does not publish list pricing for the X10. It is sold to enterprise, public-safety, and defense customers on a quote basis, usually bundled with the Dock and DFR Command software as a program rather than a single-unit purchase. DEPLOY tracks the X10's verified deployments rather than a sticker price.

Current leadership (7)

Founders (3)

Board (3)

Safety record

2 incidents on record (2 moderate). Most recent: Jul 2026.

moderate
2
other
1
malfunction
1

Most recent: Jul 2026

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 →

Incidents affecting Skydio (2)

Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Operator customers (4)

Brains developed (1)

Recent coverage

Skydio in third-party press

Peer companies