Unifly


Unifly is a European software company that provides a platform for drone telematics services for unmanned traffic management. The company provides mapping and location data to connect authorities with pilots for the safe integration of drones into the airspace and unmanned aviation. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of VITO until a corporate spin-off in 2015. Unifly is headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium.

History

Unifly was founded in 2015 by aerospace experts Andres Van Swalm, Jurgen Verstaen, Koen Meuleman and Hans Schrauwen.. They worked on creating a platform to facilitate unmanned traffic management solutions in the aerospace for drones. The company received $1.2 million in seed funding from PMV and Qbic Fund. Again in 2016, it raised another round of series A funding of $5 million from Terra Drone for the business expansion and development.
In May 2018, Unifly announced that it has partnered with UNICEF to create a UTM drone corridor in Africa. Later in the year the company announced its partnership with the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance program for New York’s UAS Test Site to test drone mission for the proposed corridor. As of 2018, the company has operations in Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the US, Malawi, China and Japan.

Partnerships

Unifly partnered with HERE Technologies that specialises in digital mapping and location services to enable airspace maps for drones. In 2018, Unifly signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Huawei Technologies to cooperate in the field of unmanned traffic management systems. In August 2018, Unifly formed a partnership with Integra Aviation Academy, NUAIR and Griffiss International Airport to visualize and manage drone traffic in the low-altitude airspace.

Projects

The company works on European projects for Horizon 2020 including, CORUS, CLASS, SECOPS and PODIUM.

Awards