An early player in drone-tech, 3D Robotics Inc., announced that it has raised $53 million in a Series D round of funding on Thursday, including new equity funding and conversion of debt equity. Atlantic Bridge led the round joined by Autodesk Forge Fund, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Mayfield and other undisclosed investors, according to the company statement.
The company didn’t break out how much new capital it saw coming in the door in this round. We reached out for more information. But for now, it’s hard to ascertain how much runway the Series D investment gives 3DR, which is attempting a major metamorphosis.
Since about 2015, 3DR has been working to turn its business into a competitive enterprise software player. Its competition today is more about Drone Deploy or Airware than DJI or Parrot. That wasn’t the original plan, of course.
In 2009, 3DR started off selling drone components to the DIY set. It later launched a consumer drone, the Solo, built with open source architecture. But it halted production of those in 2015 after challenges controlling quality,…