Deal analysis · estimated
DroneDeploy × Procore: who got the money home
On July 29, 2026, Procore agreed to acquire DroneDeploy for roughly $845m in cash. DroneDeploy raised $156m over twelve years — and unlike Airtable, where $1.29bn of preferences sat senior to the common and late investors settled for their money back, here the price cleared the whole stack with room to spare. Every class converts. The preference never bites. This is what the boring-good outcome looks like.
The round history
From public reporting; * marks post-money values we estimated — none of DroneDeploy's valuations were publicly disclosed.
| Round | Year | Raised | Post-money | FD % at exit | Led by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 2014 | $2m | $10m* | 7.9% | Uncork Capital |
| Series A | 2015 | $9m | $40m* | 11.5% | Emergence |
| Series B | 2016 | $20m | $100m* | 12.7% | Scale |
| Series C | 2018 | $25m | $160m* | 11.8% | Invenergy Future Fund |
| Series D | 2019 | $35m | $250m* | 12.3% | Bessemer |
| Series E | 2021 | $50m | $500m* | 9.8% | Energize, AirTree |
| Series E-II | 2025 | $15m | $600m* | 2.5% | Emergence, Scale |
The waterfall at $845m
With standard 1x non-participating preferences, every investor class faces the same choice at exit: take your money back, or convert and share the proceeds. At 5.4x the total raised, conversion wins for everyone — even the 2025 insider round does better converting than taking its $15m back. The common — founders and employees — keeps ~$267m.
| Class | Invested | Outcome | Est. payout | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series E-II | $15m | converted | ~$21m | ~1.4x |
| Series E | $50m | converted | ~$82m | ~1.6x |
| Series D | $35m | converted | ~$104m | ~3x |
| Series C | $25m | converted | ~$100m | ~4x |
| Series B | $20m | converted | ~$108m | ~5.4x |
| Series A | $9m | converted | ~$97m | ~11x |
| Seed | $2m | converted | ~$67m | ~33x |
- • An assumed 12% employee pool takes home ~$101m — real money at a company that never chased a mega-round.
- • The early money compounded quietly: seed investors ~33x, Series A ~11x, Series B ~5.4x on our estimates.
- • Even the last pre-exit money did fine — which is the tell worth reading twice.
The founders
Three childhood friends from South Africa; assuming they still held ~15% at exit, their combined take is roughly $127m.
Mike WinnCEO & co-founderNP
Nick PilkingtonCTO & co-founderJM.avif)
Jono MillinChief Data Officer & co-founderThe investors
Estimated per-firm outcomes, assuming each firm's dollars follow its rounds' class returns. Follow a firm for its full portfolio and track record.
| Investor | In the deal | Best est. return |
|---|---|---|
| Uncork Capital | led Seed; A, C, D, E, E-II | ~33x on the seed |
| AngelPad | incubated (2013); Seed, A, C, E | ~33x on the seed |
| DCVC (Data Collective) | Seed | ~33x |
| Redpoint Ventures | Seed | ~33x |
| DFJ | Seed | ~33x |
| Emergence Capital | led A; C, D, E, co-led E-II | ~11x on the A |
| Scale Venture Partners | led B; C, D, E, co-led E-II | ~5.4x on the B |
| AirTree Ventures | C, D, co-led E, E-II | ~4x on the C |
| Invenergy Future Fund | led C | ~4x |
| Bessemer Venture Partners | led D; E, E-II | ~3x on the D |
| Energize Capital | D, co-led E | ~1.6x |
| Frontline Ventures | E | ~1.6x |
The part almost everyone missed
In September 2025, DroneDeploy announced two things in one breath: it had reached break-even, and its existing investors — Emergence and Scale co-leading — were putting in a $15m “strategic” round. Ten months later the company sold, and on our model that insider check returned ~1.4x. A company that stops burning and takes a small top-up from insiders isn't raising — it's grooming. Break-even plus a strategic insider round is one of the cleanest pre-exit signals there is, and it was sitting in a press release nobody read as one. Tracking those signals is what our deal radar is for.
Assumptions & caveats
This is a directional estimate built only on publicly reported round data. It assumes vanilla terms — 1x non-participating preferences, later rounds senior, no structure, no secondaries — and stated ownership assumptions for founders and employees. Every post-money in the round table is our estimate; actual terms are private and could change this picture materially. Better data or disagree with the model? Tell us and we'll update the analysis: corrections@fundraisingfox.com.