The unmanned aerial vehicle market is booming worldwide with the applications of this new technology being applied in many different industrial sectors, from farming to engineering, environmental, mining, and construction. Two Canadian entrepreneurs saw this technology shift coming and recently merged to become pioneers in the North American drone market with a service offering that goes further than anyone else.

Rooted in the Red River Valley of, Manitoba, Green Aero Tech Inc. was conceived in 2012 and founded in 2014. They began as a drone distributor, but Scott Hiebert, the founder, soon realized that the business model wasn’t working for his clients.

“It didn’t make financial sense for us to just sell the drones, and it didn’t work logistically for our customers either. They need the information the drones can generate, but getting access to the best machines and accurate data is an issue. The amount of money, time, and effort it takes to stay on top of the technology, machine maintenance, and data processing is prohibitive for them and we realized that by offering this as service we’d be part of their team when they needed it, at a fraction of the cost.” — Scott Hiebert

In 2015 Hiebert met Warren Genik, owner of Saskatchewan-based technology start-up AgSky Technologies, which specialized in drone data collection and processing. Genik was looking to purchase a drone Hiebert distributed at the time, but they soon found another way to work together. With AgSky’s background in data collection and Green Aero Tech’s fleet of machines and testing grounds they could offer the full package. Just last year they combined forces under the Green Aero Tech name with Hiebert becoming the CEO, and Genik the CTO.

Both men recognized the gap in the market and worked to build the solution. Green Aero Tech assesses the needs of each project, provides the best drone for the job and turns ungainly data into useable information, which is delivered with their convenient data portal. From drainage analysis for farmers, site mapping for engineers, and progress reports for the construction industry and much more, Green Aero Tech’s service applications showcases the varied and growing usability of drones.

“We’re constantly looking at what this technology can do for our clients and how we can get them actionable information. What we’re doing doesn’t exist in the marketplace at the moment. We’ve built an online portal that will empower our clients by giving them access to information on their land displayed in an easy to understand reporting format.” — Warren Genik

The future is exciting for the Green Aero Tech team, with large agricultural clients set to announce contracts in the very near future. They’re also expanding their service offerings in the engineering, construction, and oil and gas sectors as well as launching in the US. There really is no stopping these entrepreneurs as they begin to scale up and push across the border.