Five Drone Startups Lured to Central NY for $1 Million Competition

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Five drone and tech companies from around the world have been selected to move into Syracuse’s downtown Tech Garden, where they’ll compete for a $1 million grand prize.

The year-long competition is the biggest business accelerator competition for the drone industry, also known as the unmanned aerial systems industry, in the world, according to a news release from Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency.

The companies will spend the next few months trying to enhance their business plans before pitching them to a panel of judges and an audience, state officials. The winners will receive a $1 million prize towards their business, and the runners-up will get $500,000 apiece, they said.

The hope is the companies will ultimately make their home base in Central New York, which state economic development officials are hoping will become a global hub for unmanned aerial systems companies.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in November also announced the FAA approval of a section of a 50-mile corridor in the region that will be used for the testing of unmanned aerial systems. That is another effort to lure drone companies here.

The five companies were chosen as finalists in the fourth round of the GENIUS NY competition from more than 400 applicants:

BotsAndUs from the United Kingdom: The company is working on automating customer service in the retail, hospitality and travel sectors.

DroneSeed from Seattle: The company uses swarms of drones to plant trees at a rate that is six times faster than manual labor. The hope is to make reforestation scalable and counteract carbon emissions.

Eget Liber from Central New York: The company uses an autonomous, semi-submersible vehicle to help stem the proliferation of blue-green algae. It also uses a drone to identify algal blooms.

Geopipe from New York City: The company creates virtual copies of real cities for video games, architecture and simulations.

Skyy Network from Australia: The company has built a flight information management system that aims to allow drone companies and to share information airspace information to allow drones to fly safely beyond line of sight.

The business leaders will consult with local leaders and advisers through the year-long program in hopes of encouraging the companies to put down roots here, state officials said.

“This unique competition supports UAS startups and (Internet of things) companies developing the next-generation technologies that will accelerate Central New York’s growing drone industry and ensure the region continues to rise,” said the agency’s acting commissioner Eric Gertler in a statement.

Five startups that previously were finalists in the program have raised more than $10 million in private sector investment, state officials said. The GENIUS NY competition has award more than $9 million in taxpayer money to 17 startups.

The money comes from a $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative fund awarded to Central New York for economic development.

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