SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Airtonomy, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, is the $1 million grand-prize winner of round five of the Genius NY accelerator competition.
Besides Airtonomy, Airial Robotics of Hamburg, Germany; CarScanner of Krakow, Poland; Circle Optics of Rochester; and WindShape of Geneva, Switzerland were each awarded $500,000 investment prizes following Tuesday’s round five virtual pitch event, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.
The teams will use their prize money to continue to accelerate their growth and expand their presence in the region.
The year-long Genius NY program is described as the “world’s largest” business competition focused on unmanned-aircraft systems (UAS), cross-connected platforms, and other technology-based sectors.
The Genius NY program, which is administered by CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden in Syracuse, offers participants incubator space, company resources, programming and mentoring. Genius NY stands for Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York.
To date, New York State has invested $25 million in Genius NY over five rounds of the competition. Genius NY participants are required to operate their business in Central New York for at least one year.
Since 2017, Genius NY companies have raised more than $73.5 million in follow-on funding and have created 60 jobs in the region. The advancement of the Genius NY program builds on the progress of CNY Rising, the region’s award-winning strategic plan to revitalize communities and grow the economy.
About Airtonomy
Grand-prize winner Airtonomy, which was started in 2018 and has 25 employees, enables anyone to collect data uniformly using autonomous vehicles or drones.
It makes “complex flight as easy as pushing a button” so that a wind technician, security guard, or power lineman can operate a drone “safely and consistently, and collect data uniformly,” per Hochul’s office.
It means data collected can be processed automatically using machine learning and turned into “actionable intelligence” for an organization.
“Airtonomy is transforming the UAS landscape and is honored to be selected as the Genius NY 2021 winner. This award will fuel Airtonomy’s continued growth and will result in the hiring of local talent and the direct investment in the UAS ecosystem,” Joshua Riedy, founder and CEO of Airtonomy, said. “The Genius NY program, especially the amazing people and organizations involved, have been incredible. We look forward to reciprocating the support we’ve experienced with other startups in the region. Genius NY exemplifies the type of expertise, networking, and support crucial for the success of a startup. We’ve gotten to know the other finalists very well and every one of them is outstanding so we’re proud to be in their company.”
A UAS includes a drone and equipment used to control its flight. A drone is also referred to in the industry as an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.