Company Announces Over $10 million in Funding from New Enterprise Associates, XSeed Capital, Madrona Venture Group, S-Cubed Capital and the Commercial Drone Fund to Offer Autonomous Drone Video Service to Skiers & Snowboarders
This press release originally appeared on Business Wire, October 13, 2015.
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cape Productions (https://www.cape.com/) announced today that its drone video service will be widely available to skiers and snowboarders this winter. The company, which was in private beta last season, plans to launch its service at five leading North American ski resorts this winter, offering guests the ability to relive their favorite vacation moments in professionally edited videos.
Since its founding, Cape has worked closely with ski resorts, as well as NSAA, to create the new gold standard for safe drone operations at ski areas for both winter and summer recreational activities.
Cape has created a new way to use autonomous drone technology to beautifully capture people’s favorite outdoor experiences without taking them out of the moment or requiring any additional work. Cape’s first official winter season follows successfully filming hundreds of customers in Canada last season, in addition to aiding the U.S. Ski Team with their training in New Zealand this summer. With a Series A led by New Enterprise Associates, Cape has raised $10.4 million of capital since its founding in June 2014.
“Time with friends and family in the outdoors is sacred. Capturing video of these experiences and managing camera equipment takes us out of the moment, and video editing is both difficult and time consuming. Today, we are excited to announce the start of a new chapter in drones and consumer video as a whole,” said Jason Soll, CEO and co-founder of Cape. “We’ve taken a completely different approach by doing all of the hard work for our customers in a way that is fast, affordable, and beautiful. To make this possible, we spent the last year and a half building one of the safest large-scale drone operations in the world and offering our customers an experience that truly rivals being a movie star with a professional film crew. Everyone, regardless of their age or skill, should be able to get amazing video of their favorite experiences without any additional work. We believe that this approach is the best way for drones to serve the majority of people.”
Cape’s drones automatically fly with you to capture your favorite moments on snow at a quality level that has, until now, only been found in professional ski movies. Customers sign up, meet Cape on the mountain, and get filmed by the drones while riding. Soon after completing their runs, customers receive a professionally edited and published video online to share with friends and family. Cape’s proprietary drone technology maintains safe distances from the ground and all major obstacles like trees, chairlifts and crowded areas, while still tracking riders. Additionally, Cape’s drones can fly up to 40 mph, staying ahead of even the most hardcore athletes, while withstanding the treacherous weather conditions and high altitudes found at mountain resorts.
Cape has partnered with leading resorts across North America to bring the service to their guests. Launch dates for each resort, as well as new resort locations, will be announced in November and continue throughout the season. Current resort partnerships include Winter Park Resort (CO), Copper Mountain (CO), Timberline Lodge (OR), Mount Hood Meadows (OR), Powder Mountain (UT), Homewood Mountain (CA), Mountain Creek (NY), Fernie Alpine Resort (British Columbia), and Schweitzer Mountain (ID).
Cape has filmed riders in Canada under Transport Canada approval since last year and is approved to fly at Canadian resorts this winter. In the US, Cape has operated under Section 333 FAA approval since April 2015 and is currently working with the agency to finalize its approval for broader ski resort operations in the States.
While personal drone use is banned across most resorts, Cape has worked with government, resort officials and the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) to safely bring their drone video service to the public. “Since its founding, Cape has worked closely with ski resorts, as well as NSAA, to create the new gold standard for safe drone operations at ski areas for both winter and summer recreational activities,” said Dave Byrd, Director of Risk and Regulatory Affairs for the National Ski Areas Association.
U.S. Ski Team and Cape
For their first on-snow camp of the 2016 season, the U.S. Ski Team partnered with Cape to capture training sessions with Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Ted Ligety and other U.S. Ski Team athletes at the picturesque Coronet Peak in Queenstown, New Zealand. “The unique camera angles we got and the stunning footage provided our coaches and athletes with a great experience and those images sent to our fans inspired us all. Our experience with Cape was exceptional and I have no doubt they will be successful in both the consumer and professional space with their technology and customer service,” said Mike Jaquet, Chief Marketing Officer for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.
Cape’s team includes Google[x] alumni and Stanford engineers, along with world class athletes – including a former U.S. Ski Team member and former pro snowboarder.
For more information about Cape, visit www.cape.com.