Reliable Robotics Reels In $100 Million

<p><strong>MOUNTAIN VIEW<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Reliable Robotics&comma; a developer of automated aircraft systems&comma; has reeled in a &dollar;100 million Series C funding round led by Coatue Management&period; Coatue joins past investors Lightspeed Venture Partners&comma; Eclipse Ventures&comma; Teamworthy Ventures and Pathbreaker Ventures to bring total fundraising over &dollar;133 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With its innovative airframe independent technology&comma; Reliable’s Remotely Operated Aircraft System is designed to expand safe&comma; flexible and efficient air transportation service to more locations&period; The capital raised enables the company to scale its team to support its first aircraft certification program and expedite the launch of commercial cargo operations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We believe Reliable Robotics is a leader in aircraft automation for commercial aviation&comma;” said Jaimin Rangwalla&comma; a Senior Managing Director at Coatue&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We were impressed by the team&&num;8217&semi;s clear vision&comma; measured certification progress and track record of industry achievement&period; We are proud and excited to support Reliable’s goal to be the first to deliver FAA-certified&comma; remotely piloted systems to market&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Founded in 2017&comma; Reliable Robotics could help thousands of underutilized regional and municipal airports in all corners of the country&comma; greatly expanding air transportation options for cargo and eventually passengers&period; The company’s technology handles all phases of flight including taxi&comma; takeoff&comma; landing and parking&comma; while licensed pilots remotely supervise each flight from a control center&period; The system has the capability to autoland on smaller airstrips in rural or remote areas without requiring expensive infrastructure to be installed and maintained&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Automated aircraft present a massive opportunity to transform the cargo industry over the next several years&comma;” said Jeff Drees&comma; former Co-owner and Chief Commercial Officer of Ameriflight&comma; the largest regional air cargo carrier in the world&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Remotely piloted cargo delivery provides a huge advantage with low cost&comma; anytime&comma; anywhere flights that increase aircraft utilization and availability&period;” Drees recently joined Reliable Robotics to build its airline subsidiary and deliver cargo services while preparing for the adoption and scaling of remotely operated aircraft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reliable Robotics has made substantial progress in key development areas throughout its phased approach to certification&comma; deepening its regulatory experience with ongoing engagement with the Federal Aviation Administration &lpar;FAA&rpar;&period; As part of this work&comma; the company has received key authorizations from the FAA for the flight of experimental unmanned aircraft&period; In 2019&comma; Reliable demonstrated remote operation of a large commercial aircraft over a metropolitan area&comma; marking an aviation first for a private company in the United States&period; Additionally&comma; the company announced a partnership with NASA as part of the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign to further real-world flight testing of its system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We appreciate our public-private partnership with the FAA and NASA as we work to integrate our Remotely Operated Aircraft System into the airspace&period; We intend to bring unprecedented safety and reliability to today’s commercial aircraft&comma;” said Robert Rose&comma; Co-founder and CEO of Reliable Robotics&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Close collaboration with our public institutions&comma; strong backing from visionary investors and keen interest within the cargo industry further accelerates our mission to expand everyone’s access to air transportation&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Planned expansion of the company’s aircraft program to additional&comma; larger airframes will further demonstrate the versatility of its system&period; The company also intends to support emerging electric and hybrid electric platforms and eventually passenger aircraft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;