Photo: Alexander Kubitza / Public domain
Axon is putting $1.2 billion into Skydio, the largest U.S. maker of police drones, in a deal that makes the Taser company the exclusive public-safety distributor of Skydio products in the United States and Canada.
The investment, in cash and stock, adds about 20% to Axon’s fully diluted ownership of Skydio at a $5.2 billion pre-money valuation, the company said. The deal is not done: closings are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027.
Skydio serves more than 1,500 public-safety customers. Its drones are used by police departments for “drone as first responder” programs, where a drone launches ahead of officers to give them a live view of a scene. Axon says pairing its body cameras, Tasers and Axon Evidence software with Skydio’s drones will speed up emergency response times – a claim made by the company, not yet independently measured.
The investment lands as Axon trims its own outlook. The Scottsdale, Arizona company posted third-quarter revenue of $908.6 million, up 28% from a year earlier, but cut its 2026 growth outlook to about 30% – $3.61 billion to $3.63 billion in revenue – from 32% to 34%. Shares fell about 14% in extended trading Thursday after the report. The stock fell nearly 9% further in premarket trading Friday as investors weighed the weak fourth-quarter guidance and the Skydio investment, CNBC reported.
Skydio, based in San Mateo, California, has become the dominant American drone supplier to government agencies as U.S. restrictions on Chinese-made drones have pushed departments away from DJI, the Chinese market leader. The Axon deal deepens that position by putting Skydio’s products inside Axon’s vast public-safety sales channel.
JBizNews Desk | Scottsdale, Arizona
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