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Silicon Valley investor raises funds to bring drones to the masses

One of the most prominent Silicon Valley investors, Andreessen Horowitz, has successfully raised funding to develop software for commercial drones.
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer

One of the most prominent Silicon Valley investors, Andreessen Horowitz, has successfully raised funding to develop software for commercial drones.

The investor is currently supporting and organizing an investment round for Newport Beach, Calif.-based company Airware. The firm develops the skeletal and core programming structure for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) intended for commercial use; providing a number of different platforms and tools depending on the types of drone being utilized.

Airware has managed to raise $10.7 million in the Series A investment round, and Google Ventures is one of the company's backers.

For those who believe Google is about to enter the military world, don't worry. Airware's software is only suitable for non-military UAVs, and as the company's CEO Jonathan Downey commented, uses are restricted to different purposes, such as the surveillance and evaluation of mining options and preventing poaching.

The CEO hopes that by developing a platform which can cater for a wide range of innovative uses, the company will be able to compete with ex-military efforts.

A survey conducted by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) projects that the manufacture of drones in the U.S. could create up to 70,000 jobs in the three years once the FAA comes up with regulations concerning the use of commercial drones, which may contribute up to $13.6 billion to the economy.

Read More: AllThingsD

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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