Aerospace & Defense Update: UAV & Drone Spotlight
Meridian Capital is pleased to share with you our Summer 2020 Aerospace & Defense Update. The Summer 2020 edition spotlights the commercial and defense segments of the UAV and Drone industry, and specifically covers M&A and venture capital deals, trends, and public company valuations within the industry. A few of the takeaways from our newsletter are included below.
- M&A activity has decreased 12.5% from Q1 to Q2 2020; Meridian expects M&A to pick up in the coming quarters due to:
- Growing adoption of UAV use cases within the commercial market
- Many A&D focused investors are shifting focus away from commercial aviation to UAV / drone opportunities
- Venture capital investors seeking to realize their investments
- As overall drone M&A heats up, demand for drone components and related technologies such as sensors, cameras, AI, transmitters, and avionics are expected to increase
- Early stage private equity and venture capital remains active, nearly doubling from Q1 to Q2 2020 as companies seek cash infusions to weather the pandemic
- Global spending on drones is expected to be driven largely by defense spending, with R&D and procurement spending expected to rise from $11.1B in 2020 to $14.3B by 2029
We welcome the opportunity to discuss Aerospace & Defense trends and what we are seeing in the market.