Israeli drone-in-a-box provider Percepto has announced a $15m Series A funding round led by U.S. Venture Partners. The company has to date raised a total of $27.5m, with previous investors including R&R Venture Partners and Hyundai Motors.

The funding will be split between driving Percepto’s autonomous drone-in-a-box solution into emerging markets around the world and continued research and development.

Read more: Israeli Firm Percepto Launches the Sparrow, an Autonomous Drone for Industry

Since launching in 2014, Percepto’s focus has been autonomous inspections. The company’s technology has been deployed by energy, oil & gas, and mining organizations. These include Enel; the Italian multinational energy company uses Percepto’s solution to protect and optimize its operations.

Percepto’s drones operate without human intervention. The company’s Sparrow system comes with a drone and a recharging base station that allows it to carry out flights around the clock. The nature of the system is adaptable: Percepto says it’s suited to “any large-scale enterprises looking to improve security, increase productivity and reduce safety risks and operational costs.”

We are excited to announce that we have closed our $15M Series A led by USVP with participation from NHN, Spider Capital and Emerge. A big thank you to our team for making this possible. Read the press release here to learn more – https://t.co/XFdDT6kenV #Percepto pic.twitter.com/CnqcSPjPfM

— Percepto- Autonomous Drones (@PerceptoDrones) May 22, 2019

Read more: Percepto Flies Autonomous Drones Over 5G Trial Network in Korea

Percepto to expand international presence

CEO of Percepto, Dor Abuhasira said, “This new investment in Percepto accelerates our rapid trajectory. We have the solution, talent, infrastructure and funding in place to scale our operations and further expand our international presence that already includes energy, oil & gas, mining and other heavy industry businesses in more than ten countries. It also enables us to continue at pace with Percepto’s ground-breaking research and development.”

Percepto’s Drone-in-a-Box (DIB) solution improves on-site security, safety, operations, maintenance and compliance through a combination of computer vision and AI technology. This technology enables the real-time detection of threats, safety hazards and anomalies, as well as mapping, 3D modelling and emergency response. All can be remotely managed over the cloud.

Many previous estimations of how the global commercial drone industry will shape up have been extremely optimistic. A recent study cited in the Percepto press release points to a global market worth $17b by 2026.

Dafina Toncheva, Partner at USVP, suggests this kind of bold future outlook, combined with Percepto’s current technology and customer base, made this deal an easy one to make.

“Percepto has impressive technology, the right go-to-market strategy and an excellent team. It has a proven ability to deliver to critical facilities and heavy industries, unparalleled access to aerial data and perception which unlocks huge commercial value, whilst lowering costs and mitigating risk,” she said.