AN-020 Company lists · list
Drone Companies: Makers, Operators, and Defense Players
Drone companies in the HardwareMap index: defense makers, delivery operators, mapping and inspection drones. HQ, stage, disclosed raise, status.
by the HardwareMap editors3 min read
From the HardwareMap index, REV 26.09, refreshed 3 Oct 2026
Contents
Drone companies in the HardwareMap index number 18 as of REV 26.09: airframe makers, delivery operators, flight compute suppliers and the counter-drone systems built to stop them. This page lists each with HQ hub, stage, disclosed capital raised and status. Sorting rule: what the company sells and to whom, then disclosed funding. It sits under the hardware startups index.
The table is live. It reads from the same records as each company datasheet, so it updates when the index does. US-only readers can jump to American drone companies; readers tracking listed shares can go to publicly traded drone companies.
How we sort drone companies
Most "top drone companies" lists rank by brand recognition. This one groups by what a buyer would procure.
- Defense makers. Airframes and autonomy sold to militaries and governments.
- Counter-drone systems. Sensors and effectors that detect or disable drones.
- Commercial makers and operators. Delivery, mapping, inspection and warehouse inventory.
- Components. Flight computers and autopilots sold to other drone builders.
Inside each group, disclosed capital raised orders the names. "Raised" means disclosed rounds only. Where a figure is not public, the table says undisclosed.
Defense drone companies
Defense is where most of the money in this list sits. Capabilities below are as the companies describe them publicly.
Anduril Industries (Costa Mesa) ties drones, sensors and counter-drone systems together with its Lattice software. Its disclosed raise is the largest of any company in this list. Shield AI (San Diego) builds AI pilot software and the V-BAT, a ducted-fan vertical takeoff drone that the company says is designed to work in GPS-denied conditions (Shield AI V-BAT).
Skydio (San Mateo) builds autonomous drones and docks for defense and public safety; the X10 is its current flagship (Skydio X10). Neros (Torrance) mass-produces small FPV drones with no Chinese parts, a supply chain requirement for many US buyers.
In Europe, Helsing (Munich) started as a defense AI software company and now builds the HX-2 strike drone. Quantum Systems (Gilching) builds the Trinity F90+ and other electric VTOL drones for surveillance. In India, ideaForge (Navi Mumbai) supplies enterprise and defense UAVs and is publicly listed.
The counter-drone side has two specialists. Epirus (Torrance) builds Leonidas, a high-power microwave system aimed at drone swarms. CHAOS Industries (Los Angeles) builds Vanquish, a networked radar for detecting drones and missiles. For the wider defense list, see defense tech startups.
Commercial drone companies: delivery, mapping, inspection
Zipline (South San Francisco) builds and flies autonomous delivery drones; its current system is Platform 2 (Zipline). It is the most funded civilian drone company in the index. Wingcopter (Weiterstadt) builds tilt-rotor delivery drones, and Garuda Aerospace (Chennai) sells agricultural drones and drone services.
Mapping and inspection are narrower markets with clearer buyers. Wingtra (Zurich) sells the WingtraOne VTOL mapping drone to surveyors. Flyability (Lausanne) builds the Elios 3, a caged drone for flying inside tanks, boilers and mines. Exyn Technologies (Philadelphia) builds autonomous aerial robots for GPS-denied sites. Corvus Robotics (Mountain View) flies Corvus One drones indoors to count warehouse inventory.
Two more round out the list. ModalAI (San Diego) sells VOXL flight computers and autopilots to other drone builders. Asteria Aerospace (Bengaluru) builds full-stack drone systems and is now listed as a subsidiary.
What the index shows about drone companies
Three patterns hold across the table.
- Defense dominates the capital. The defense and counter-drone names account for most of the disclosed funding in the list. Outside Zipline, civilian makers in the index have disclosed between about $20 million and $120 million; most defense makers have disclosed hundreds of millions or more.
- Supply chain origin is a feature. Neros markets its FPV drones as free of Chinese parts, because many US government buyers now ask for that.
- Geography follows procurement. The index counts 10 US drone companies, 3 in Germany and 3 in India. Each cluster sells first to its home government.
Missing a name? DJI is a mature company, not a startup. Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation build passenger eVTOL aircraft and sit in the mobility category. Funding patterns across all of hardware are in hardware startup funding.
The next REV adds new entries, updates stages and marks status changes on this page first.
Continue with Military and Defense Drone Companies and Drone Manufacturing Companies.
Frequently asked questions
How many drone companies are in the HardwareMap index?
The index lists 18 drone companies as of REV 26.09, counting airframe makers, delivery operators, drone compute suppliers and counter-drone systems. Ten are headquartered in the United States, three in Germany, three in India and two in Switzerland. The count changes with each monthly revision, and the table on this page is drawn live from the index.
What are the biggest drone companies by funding?
By disclosed capital in the index, the largest are Anduril Industries, Shield AI, Helsing and Zipline. Three of those four sell mainly to defense customers. Zipline is the exception: it runs a commercial delivery network. Disclosed funding measures investor conviction, not unit sales, so read it alongside shipping evidence such as named customers and deployed fleets.
Why is DJI not on this list?
DJI, the Shenzhen maker of consumer and commercial drones, is a mature private company rather than a startup, and the index catalogues startups. The same rule leaves out the drone divisions of large defense primes. Companies that sell drones made by others, without their own hardware, are also outside the index.
Which drone companies make delivery drones?
Two delivery makers are in the index. Zipline, based in South San Francisco, builds and operates autonomous delivery drones for packages and medical supplies. Wingcopter, based in Weiterstadt, Germany, builds electric tilt-rotor delivery drones. Garuda Aerospace in Chennai runs agricultural and commercial drone services. Delivery is the most capital-intensive civilian segment, because the operator also runs the network.
Are eVTOL air taxi companies drone companies?
Not in this index. Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation build electric vertical takeoff aircraft that share drone technology, such as distributed electric propulsion, but they are designed to carry passengers with a pilot and are certified as aircraft. The index files them under mobility, and they appear on the publicly traded drone companies page only as adjacent stocks.
HardwareMap lists every drone company that meets the bar. Open any company above for its full datasheet, or browse the defense category.
The index
All 219 startups, filterable by category, hub, stage and funding.