UTICA, N.Y. — A Utica–based startup has successfully completed a seed-funding round, netting investments that will help accelerate the development and deployment of its product, a cutting-edge drone.
“We started pitching investors on the second week of August, and we had multiple offers to close out the round in a matter of days,” Modovolo, Inc. CEO Justin Call said in a statement.
The company is not disclosing the names of the investors or how much the company raised.
“It’s just awesome to have the support of investors who share our vision of revolutionizing the drone industry,” Call said. “This funding will allow us to finish the development of the Modovolo Lift and move into production quickly.”
The company’s Modovolo Lift drone is different from the standard drone with a fixed center and fixed arms. The Modovolo Lift is modular, allowing users to add or remove “Lift Pods” and “Utility Pods” as needed to build the drone needed for each mission.
“In addition to its modular design, it’s super lightweight, has twice the flight time, has high payload capacity, and is orders of magnitude less expensive than anything on the market,” Case said.
After about two and a half years of development and filing patents, Modovolo launched in March of this year. It has already landed a partnership with ANDRO Computational Solutions of Rome.
“We’ve been looking for a drone technology that had multiple mission capabilities, long flight time, and that was attritable — meaning that it is low cost and easily replaced,” ANDRO CEO Andrew Drozd said. “That’s a key requirement for the Department of Defense these days.”
Modovolo and Mohawk Valley Community College’s thINCubator were jointly awarded a $65,000 manufacturing grant in July from FuzeHub for the development and production of the Modovolo Lift. FuzeHub provides manufacturers and technology companies with access to a network of industry experts, programs, and assets.
“FuzeHub believed in us and their confidence and commitment went a long way to instilling confidence in our seed round investors,” Call said. “And the MVCC thINCubator has been our longtime partner, even when we were in stealth mode, and they were key to helping us get the FuzeHub grant.”
Modovolo is currently located at the thINCubator, at 200 Broad St. in Utica.