It all began when CEO and Founder Matt Sloane went on location as a Producer for CNN. He was sent with the intention of helping fire departments understand how news organizations interface with first responders on major incident scenes. He mentioned drones in the discussion, and left with his first official inquiry into how drone technology could be used to help first responders do their jobs better.
With a background as an EMT, Matt understood the challenges public safety can face, and he saw an enormous opportunity to help bring this growing technology to one of the most important industries in the country. Within months he’d added Ben Kroll, Walt Wylupek, and Adam Weaver to round out Skyfire’s founding team, and Skyfire set out to revolutionize public safety.
Throughout the years Skyfire has become the nationwide leader in drone program consulting for public safety and evolved naturally to service a broader spectrum of critical segments. Having helped some of the world’s leading healthcare organizations, oil and gas and other industry providers, Skyfire has helped pave the way for systematic drone integrations.
In March of 2020, Skyfire acquired majority stake in Viking Unmanned Aerial Systems, a drone engineering, design and manufacturing house. While Viking’s focus has historically been on high-end unmanned systems for US Military research, it has widened its scope to include purpose-built solutions for critical sectors like public safety, infrastructure and last-mile delivery for medical supplies.