Presse release : the EYESEE drone inventory count raises €1 million in seed funding

Grenoble, France, December 8, 2022 – The startup Darwin Drones, which develops and markets the Eyesee drone inventory count, announces a €1 million round of funding, bringing in the Groupe Idec through its investment subsidiary Team Invest Innovation, the Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement, as well as several business angels.

Accelerating sales of the drone inventory count in France and Europe

The startup now has the necessary means for the commercial deployment of Eyesee to logistics and industrial sites in France and abroad. After having attracted first customers such as L’Oréal, Bayer, DB Schenker, and Leroy Logistique, who adopted the Eyesee offer since its prototype stage, Darwin Drones is now aiming to set up a network of distributors and integrators in its main target markets.

“This fundraising, following an initial market validation, confirms the relevance of Eyesee’s positioning to automate and make the inventory processes of industrial and logistic sites more reliable. We are delighted to welcome new shareholders who are commited to our side. This funding allows us to start our acceleration and internationalization phase with serenity and determination.”, comments Eric Pierrel, president of Darwin Drones.

An innovative solution « made in Grenoble »

Eyesee was born in 2015 from a Grenoble-based collaboration combining the logistics DNA of Hardis Group and the industrial drone expertise of Squadrone System. It was therefore quite obvious for Darwin Drones to approach investors active in the Grenoble area, in particular Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement and Grenoble Angels.

“The Eyesee project, led by Darwin Drones, showcases Grenoble’s technological and commercial expertise on a national level and is now beginning its international journey. We are delighted to be able to support this project and especially the management team, which combines an ability to listen with notable responsiveness and dynamism.“, explains Rami Hassoun, equity investor at Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement.

“For us, supporting such a project means that we believe in the strong development potential of the Eyesee inventory drone solution dedicated to stocktaking within logistics sites using an autonomous drone. Eyesee has been proven for more than 5 years with many customers already using it, demonstrating impressive results compared to traditional stocktaking methods. Darwin Drones is determined to deploy this disruptive solution on a larger scale in France and internationally for the logistics sector, which is always on the lookout for innovative and reliable solutions to improve productivity. Finally, Eyesee was created and developed in the Grenoble area by experts in logistics and drone engineering, it was thus important to support this project in its commercial launch phase.”, explains Jean-Yves Costa, the project’s instructor and investor at Grenoble Angels.

Synergy-building investors

The development of partnerships being a strong vector for growth for Darwin Drones, the recent fundraising is also an opportunity to create synergies. Thus, the Groupe Idec, a major player in real estate and construction, which operates as a planner and developer, investor, turnkey designer-builder, and creator of energy solutions, is joining the Eyesee project to accelerate its market access.

“Our stake in Eyesee is the result of a global approach to the need for tools that promote the development of industry and logistics 4.0“, comments Patrice Lafargue, President of Groupe Idec. “We are thrilled to partner with the Darwin Drones team and its other shareholders to develop this project, which combines an innovative vision and a pragmatic approach to strengthen the digitalization of logistics platforms. We have an incredible portfolio of projects with some 700,000 m2 of warehouses that we build each year and the nearly 1,700,000 m2 of buildable space throughout France to give this innovative solution a tremendous boost.”