A venture capital firm has made a $2 million investment in Lafayette-based drone service FlyGuys.
Advantage Capital, which also lends to small businesses, closed on the preferred equity investment in Series A funding in connection with the Louisiana New Markets Tax Credit Jobs Act. The funding will help ramp up sales and marketing, purchase new equipment and triple its staff in the Lafayette office in the coming years.
FlyGuys, which has an office in downtown Lafayette, could add as many as 29 jobs, primarily in sales, project management and software development.
“Since FlyGuys began in 2018, we have seen impressive year-over-year growth as demand for drone services has climbed,” FlyGuys founder and CEO Adam Zaynor said. “This investment will help us take our business to the next level, allowing us to purchase additional remote sensing technology, or LiDAR, drones, invest in software and technology and build out our pilot network.”
The market for drone services is projected to reach $63.6 billion by 2025, up from just $4.4 billion in 2019.
“FlyGuys’ growth in the burgeoning drone industry is a major win for Lafayette and the entire southern Louisiana economy, which has historically been reliant on the oil and gas industry,” said Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette. “I’m excited to watch the company grow and help to diversify our local economy.”