DJI, the world’s largest non-military drone manufacturer, is in talks with investors to nab somewhere between $500m and $800m from investors, via a 1-2 combo of new equity and debt, ahead of their planned IPO.
The funding would value the firm at about $15B — almost double its $8m valuation in 2015.
According to Reuters, one of the reasons for the move is to capitalize on how hot Chinese tech stocks are right now, which have reportedly catapulted valuations to “heady” levels for many companies.
They’re also looking to expand into new drone sectors such as agriculture, energy, construction, and infrastructure inspection.
The company already commands 70% of the global commercial and consumer drone market, reportedly netting $2.9B in 2017 in sales — a number that’s expected to fly even higher this year.
According to research firm IDC, global drone spending is likely to reach $9B this year and grow at an annual rate of 30% in the next 5. And we still can’t fly one for more than 30 seconds without crashing…