PrecisionHawk partners with EagleView, acquires energy experts

Drone company PrecisionHawk has announced a partnership with EagleView, a provider of aerial imagery and data analytics for government, insurance and commercial sectors.

PrecisionHawk also announced that it has purchased both HAZON Inc. and InspecTools Inc., businesses that specialize in the delivery of inspection services and technology for the energy industry.

Both companies bring demonstrated expertise to enable tighter integration between the collection and the analysis of drone data, PrecisionHawk said. Paul Bingaman, CEO of InspecTools, and David Culler, CEO of HAZON, will join PrecisionHawk’s executive leadership team.

EagleView partnership for insurance claims

EagleView’s partnership with PrecisionHawk enables drone insurance inspections. (Photo: PrecisionHawk)

Through the partnership with PrecisionHawk, EagleView will collect at-scale insurance claims imagery via drones by leveraging PrecisionHawk’s global network of drone pilots, Droners.io.

The addition of PrecisionHawk’s drone pilot network will benefit EagleView OnSite Solutions for remote claims inspection. EagleView OnSite virtual desk adjustment combines imagery from multiple sources, including drones, with a variety of data analytics and reports to enable adjusters to efficiently triage claims, virtually inspect properties from their desk, and ultimately close property and casualty (P&C) claims faster.

“EagleView OnSite provides insurance customers with all the tools necessary to settle claims without ever going into the field,” said Rishi Daga, CEO of EagleView. “As drones transform the way the insurance industry operates, making inspections safer, easier and more cost effective, EagleView reinforces its commitment to drone technology to digitize manual workflows.”

Virtual drone inspections for insurance claims address a challenging trend in the P&C insurance industry. Over the past 20 years, the number of experienced insurance adjusters has dropped dramatically, causing labor shortages — especially after major storms hit. The demand for insurance adjusters is high, yet drone pilots add a new, untapped “labor force” to the equation.

Combining the EagleView OnSite virtual desk adjustment solution with PrecisionHawk will offer the insurance industry thousands of certified, trained drone pilots to perform high-quality insurance inspections at a competitive cost. With more than 25,000 claims processed by EagleView OnSite in the last 18 months, EagleView can help insurance carriers transform their property claim workflows and decrease cycle time by at least 40 percent to best serve their customers after a catastrophic natural disaster.

Drone technology and analytics for the energy market

HAZON brings extensive aviation experience, standards-based operating procedures, certified drone flight operations and inspection services, widely regarded as the best in the energy industry, to the PrecisionHawk team. The company has delivered more than 13,000 inspections totaling over 8,000 hours of flight time, with a majority focused in energy markets for Fortune 500 utilities.

InspecTools brings high-fidelity machine vision software and data analysis tools built for the renewable energy market. Their market-leading software for both solar-panel and wind-turbine inspection is utilized by some of the largest equipment manufacturers and service providers in the world. Customers like Vestas, PG&E and SMA Solar rely on InspecTools’ sophisticated reporting, analytics and machine learning capabilities.

“We’re very pleased to bring together the established technology and multi-market reputation of HAZON and InspecTools with PrecisionHawk’s experience, team and expanded portfolio,” said Michael Chasen, CEO of PrecisionHawk. “By combining these offerings, our customers will have access to extensive and leading-edge energy products and services, regulatory expertise and a record of safe, secure and compliant operations.”

Thanks to advances in technology and regulations, the energy market has quickly moved from experimenting with pilot projects to large scale deployment of drone solutions, PrecisionHawk said. Across distribution lines, transmission lines, solar panels, wind turbines, oil and gas and utility infrastructure, and emergency response, energy presents a current global market opportunity of $9.7 billion.

According to IDC, worldwide spending on robotics and drones will accelerate over the next four years reaching $201.3 billion in 2022. While the value is clear across time, safety improvements and operational efficiency, scaling and managing a drone program can be complex.

“HAZON is excited to bring our world-class best practices and reputation for standards-based operations and safety to the PrecisionHawk team,” said Culler. “By joining PrecisionHawk, our customers gain access to the next level of technological sophistication for more scalable, predictive and cost-efficient drone solutions that drive better business intelligence.”

“InspecTools brings years of experience, analytics tools and machine vision software for renewable energy that is an immediate value-add to PrecisionHawk’s software analytics platform,” Bingaman said. “This relationship further enhances the technologies and services that are fundamental to advancing the economic potential of drones in the energy market.”

The acquisition of HAZON and InspecTools underscores PrecisionHawk’s strategy to operate in high-growth markets and accelerate the adoption of commercial drones.

The acquisitions, which are subject to customary closing conditions, are expected to close later this month.