Waterloo drone-maker Aeryon Labs bought by U.S. company for $265M

Waterloo's Aeryon Labs has been bought by Oregon-based FLIR Systems Inc. for $256 million, or $200 million US.

The acquisition was announced Monday.

DaveKroetsch, co-founder and chief technology officer ofAeryonLabs, says not much will change in the foreseeable future.

"The Waterloo operations of Aeryon Labs will actually continue as they did yesterday with manufacturing, engineering and all the functions staying intact in Waterloo and ultimately, we see growing," he said.

"The business here is very valuable to FLIR and our ability to sell internationally is a key piece of keeping these components of the business here in Canada."

Aeryon Labs builds high-performance drones that are sold to a variety of customers including military, police services and commercial businesses. The drones can provide high-resolution images for surveillance and reconnaissance.

The drones already include cameras and thermal technology from FLIR. Jim Cannon, president and CEO of FLIR Systems, said acquiring Aeryon Labs is part of the company's strategy to move beyond sensors "to the development of complete solutions that save lives and livelihoods."

'A piece of a bigger solution'

Kroetsch said this is a good way for the company to grow into something bigger.

"We see the business evolving in much the direction our business has been headed over the last couple of years. And that's moving beyond the drone as a product in and of itself as a drone as a piece of a bigger solution," he said.

For example, FLIR bought a drone company that builds smaller drones that look likelittle helicopters.

"We can imagine integratingthose with our drones, perhaps having ours carry their drones and drop them off," he said.

FLIR also does border security systems, which Kroetsch says could use the drones to allow border agents to look over a hill where there have been issues.

"We see the opportunity there as something that we never could have done on our own but being involved with and part of a larger company that's already providing these solutions today gives us access not only to these great applications, but also to some fantastic technologies," he said.

Aeryon Labs has donea lot of work during emergency disasters, including in Philippines after Typhoon Hagupit in 2014, Ecuador after an earthquake in 2016 and the Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016.