Top Deal: Bringing Drone Delivery Safely To A Door Near You

Key Stats:

Summary

To date and as of September 28th, Indemnis has raised 378.05k

The Indemnis team has been selected as a “Top Deal” by KingsCrowd. This distinction is reserved for deals selected into the top 10% of our deal diligence funnel. If you have questions regarding our deal diligence and selection methodology please reach out to hello@kingscrowd.com

You can also see our Founder Profile with Co-Founder & CEO of Indemnis, Amber McDonald HERE, which was performed as part of our due diligence process

Problem

On December 7, 2016, Amazon delivered an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn in Britain – by drone. In the years following, companies from UPS to Domino’s Pizza have assigned large budgets to develop their drone programs. Domino’s successfully delivered a pizza November of 2016, and UPS is currently testing drone deliveries from vans.

Commercial delivery by drone is increasingly becoming a reality. Estimates for Amazon’s annual shipping costs conservatively reach 20 billion USD, and per-package shipping-related costs at Amazon can range from $3 – $4 dollars. Drone-shipments may cut a sizable portion of these expenses, only costing, on average, $1 per delivery.

So far, use of drones for delivery purposes in the United States has been slowed by regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has thus far restricted the use of small unmanned aircraft over other human beings, until drone delivery can be made safe. Drones are not yet a perfect technology: if a drone fails and falls from the air, people could be injured or even killed, and property could be damaged.

Solution

Indemnis solves for these safety concerns with its product, The Nexus. The Nexus is a ballistic parachute launcher which automatically deploys whenever a drone registers a fall from failure. These parachutes are deployed in under 30 milliseconds and throw the parachute at 90 mph.

The tube that carries the parachutes is welded together from Dyneema, the strongest fibre on the planet, and makes the deployment tube airtight and rigid at 30 PSI. The construction of these tubes helps shield parachute lines during deployment, which avoid entanglement and ensure a 100% success rate during deployment. These parachutes slow falling speeds, and stabilize descent to 6.8 mph, significantly curtailing the chance of passersby getting injured or property-damage related liabilities from a drone failure.

This product clearly appeals to companies which hope to implement drone delivery programs. The product, which is quickly and easily installed to drones, does not require user servicing. Indemnis is also working on a hot-swap program, whereby Nexus units that may have exceeded shelf life might be replaced rapidly. This program may appeal to large corporations, which might value the simplicity involved in purchasing and maintaining a Nexus.

While there are other producers of parachute systems for drones, the Nexus holds a few competitive advantages, as pointed out in the graphic above. Most importantly, however, it has uniquely been tested in reactive failure scenarios, which has helped enable it to function in all circumstances.

Indemnis also holds many intellectual property rights that set it apart from competitors, among these, the technology to launching an aerodynamic decelerator with an inflatable apparatus from a drone. It also developed the process which bonds Dyneema material, which is the only material suitable for this purpose. Other technological breakthroughs have been a weatherproof valve, which prevents outside conditions like humidity or temperature from tampering with parachute deployment, and independently operating free-fall detection systems.

Another major selling point is that Indemnis already has the necessary data and analysis to prove to the FAA that the Nexus is sufficient as a risk-mitigation solution for drone flights over people. In fact, Indemnis is appointed as the technical lead for spearheading the bar-setting of safety requirements, and for developing the ASTM technical guides outlining ways to safely achieving over-people flights. In this sense, Indemnis is the only company that has been able to prove the reliability of a drone parachute system to the FAA, and is also a company that the FAA trusts with developing new regulations.

In helping to create the FAA guidelines for safe over-person drone flight, Indemnis will be at least two to three years ahead of any competition trying to catch up and compete with Indemnis, which has literally built the regulations and tested them with the FAA before anyone else.

Market Conditions

Currently, Indemnis has a significant valuation cap of 25 million. Though Indemnis is still a pre-revenue company, this valuation is a reflection of the enormous potential of their product. Commercial drones make up a rapidly growing industry that is projected to be worth more than $17 Billion by 2024. The FAA forecasts that, even discounting drones for delivery or autonomous operations, over 450 thousand commercial aircraft will be in service by 2022. Currently, there are already 125 – 200 thousand aircraft which require over-person flight, which may need a Nexus unit each.

This growth in the drone industry is in large part propelled forward by a pivot towards drone deployment in the shipping industry, but expansion into unmanned aircraft is a salient possibility in many other industries. The cost-efficient nature of drones means oil and gas companies, farming co-ops, and even public safety forces can possibly use drones in urban environments to cut inspection costs.

A Nexus unit would price between $3500 and $8500, depending on the size of the system. Though expensive in comparison to other similar products, the Nexus is more geared towards industrial use, where commercial drones can cost up to $6000 dollars or more, also depending on size. Not only would it be cost-efficient for companies to use the higher quality Nexus to protect their expensive drone fleets, but also, companies would be incentivized to use the best possible parachuting system to try and avoid the negative publicity involved in drone accidents.

In the long run, it is by far cheaper to invest their money in higher-quality drone parachutes, than to deal with court costs and fines related to a drone failure potentially damaging property, or even worse, injuring people. This plays into Indemnis’ market niche, being the most technologically superior drone parachuting systems available.

With so many aircraft already in service and the rapid rate of growth the industry is expected to go through, Indemnis is well positioned to take substantial market share over the next five years.

Management

The company is led by CEO/Co-Founder Amber McDonald and CTO/Co-Founder Alan Erickson, both hardened veterans with a large degree of exposure to entrepreneurship and management.

Amber managed programs and finances for 7 years at a company with $30 million in assets and served on the board for a holding company with more than $250 million in annual revenue. Seeing as Indemnis’ primary consumers are likely to be large-cap corporations like Amazon, Wal-mart, or even Domino’s, Amber’s financial expertise is likely to help her in negotiations in the future.

Alan, on the other hand, has 15 years of experience operating drones, from his time running a video production company that served well-known clients like Harley Davidson, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. His extensive background with drones has helped him develop an exceptional understanding of drones. In fact, the Nexus was conceptualized while Amber and Alan were working together at the video production company.

The two boast a wide variety of experiences and have proven themselves capable of starting and managing companies large and small, but also have a unique understanding of the needs that a commercial drone operator would need to satisfy.

Financials

So far, Indemnis has inspired sizable amount of interest. Over $3.4 Million USD has been raised by private investors, and in just two and a half weeks, its fundraising page on Republic has raised $110 thousand USD. The type of security that is being offered is a “Crowd Safe” security, meaning that any investment made today can be convertible to equity in the future. As of current, with the $3.4 million from private investors, and Republic’s fundraising max goal of $1.07 million, Indemnis still retains 82% of its company, a high amount of retained equity considering potential growth. This means Indemnis has enough equity to hold another round of fundraising efforts, if needed, to push their product onto the market, and still maintain a reasonable stake in the company’s success.

Also, Indemnis has been utilizing the funds it has already raised efficiently. With it’s $3.4 million so far, it has progressed through product testing rapidly, patented innovations, and created valuable relationships with other organizations. Its track record, as well as management’s extensive background with financial management, speaks volumes to Indemnis’ ability to maximize returns from invested money, and investors can rest easy knowing that their money is not being squandered inconsequentially.

As aforementioned, though the product is functional, some final adjustments are still being made, and sales of the Nexus system have not begun yet. Commercialization and sales of the product are scheduled to start only after management is confident that the Nexus can adequately meet FAA requirements for over-person flight.

Even more, as Indemnis grows and becomes more successful, liquidation opportunities may arise. Besides the usual risk of bankruptcy, or the possibility of an IPO, Indemnis also has enough added value that an acquisition by any large organization dependant on drones, is a very distinct possibility.

A large company like Amazon may benefit from the acquisition of Indemnis because an acquisition could streamline operations and cut costs, especially if projections are accurate and drone deliveries become a significant component of operations expenses. Amazon, in particular, has billions in free cash flow and has shown substantial interest in investing in alternative modes of delivery, as seen in its billions in investments into Amazon Prime Air.

Rating

The Recommendation: Top Deal

Indemnis is a Top Deal. This recommendation is informed by a few primary reasons:

1. Product/Regulatory Synergy

A major selling point for Indemnis’ product is the company’s close ties with the FAA. The technology for package deliveries with drones is already there, as evidenced by deliveries by Amazon and Domino’s. One of the very few reasons that drone delivery is not widespread is because of the FAA’s regulations in regard to pedestrian safety in an urban environment.

Indemnis’ closeness with the FAA is indicative of two things. First of all, it shows that the Nexus product holds a lot of potential, and impressed the FAA enough to inspire a side-by-side relationship, which increases the likelihood that Indemnis will be permitted as a plausible way to waive regulation for over-person flights. More importantly, however, the FAA entrusting the Indemnis team with creating the technical guide for flight-over-people operations, and with setting the standard for safety requirements for over-people flights is indicative of the degree of faith that the FAA has in the management team at Indemnis.

2. Differentiated product

Despite the high price point, Indemnis has a significant lead on other companies that produce similar products. First and most obvious, is the time advantage. There being so few competitors currently, Indemnis can afford to have healthy margins with no major consequences. The quality of its product design and materials is unparalleled, which would naturally draw consumers who hope to protect more expensive and sizable drones.

More importantly, the patents that Indemnis hold ensure that competitors have no way to directly compete with the company. This lead is further extended when considering the barriers to entry that would face an aspiring competitor. Indemnis has spent millions of dollars and tested its product for years to come out with this product. Even if other companies are extremely well funded, it would take at least a few years for anything close to competitive alternatives to arise, which by then Indemnis would be a well-established name in the industry, and would be well equipped to outdo competition.

3. Large Potential Customer Base

Another point that has been touched upon is the extremely high potential for the company and its products. Because of its product’s cost efficiency, added convenience, and quality, the Nexus should appeal to all sorts of companies in many industries that increasingly require drones. Any company hoping to pivot into anything that requires a drone flying in an urban environment would have a very high interest in purchasing Indemnis’ products.

In fact, every time companies would want to expand their drone operations’ capacity, they would need to purchase more Nexus units. In an industry that is expanding as rapidly as the drone industry, an early company in the market, holding the key hardware and software that can help waive the current FAA restrictions on over-person flight safety, will be able to capture a large proportion of the market for drone parachutes.

With these three strong reasons pointing to a successful business, Indemnis is a TOP DEAL.