Canadian Drone Company Acquired by Trace Live Networks

Venice, California’s TRACE Live Networks announced this morning that it has acquired Saskatoon’s Draganfly Innovations.

TRACE is the developer of The TRACEr1, a visually intelligent camera capable of following its owner almost anywhere and live-streaming captured footage to the internet. Draganfly is a commercial small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) specialist.

Founded in 1998 and located in Saskatoon, Draganfly is a commercial small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) specialist.

Draganfly has grown to be a globally recognized leader in commercial UAV development and production. It is the longest running manufacturer of multi-rotor helicopters in the world and the maker of the first civilian sUAS to be credited with saving a life.

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Draganfly’s products are widely used in several commercial fields including law enforcement, search and rescue, agricultural mapping, industrial inspection and aerial photography. 

Post-acquisition, TRACE will look to scale the existing Draganfly Innovations commercial sUAS business and combined engineering teams will collaborate on the further advancement of the TRACE Live Network auto-follow devices and live-streaming platform. They will also initiate development of several commercial applications for TRACE’s visually intelligent SmartCamera technology. 

TRACE Co-founder, Cameron Chell, said of the acquisition, “Draganfly Innovations is undoubtedly one of the most respected organizations in the commercial UAV space and we see huge scope for growth, not only within the company’s existing business, but through integrated applications of Draganfly UAVs with TRACE’s visual intelligence tracking technology. We’re incredibly excited to scale out Draganfly to service a wider market and put the expertise within our teams together to collaborate on some ground breaking and potentially life saving new products.”

The entire Draganfly development and engineering team, led by founder and President, Zenon Dragan, will remain in the current Saskatoon headquarters. Dragan will continue to lead Draganfly Innovations Inc. and will also join the TRACE executive team.