It’s possible that Snap has more than just spectacles on the brain (er, head?). Reports are floating around that Zero Zero Robotics, makers of the Hover Camera Passport drone, approached Snapchat’s parent company for funding.
The Beijing-based Zero Zero has already raised $25 million in funding. While initial reports didn’t contain an asking price, TechCrunch reported that the deal could be in the $150-200 million range. The Hover Camera Passport, an aerial drone that uses AI to track subjects all in a package small enough not to attract the Federal Aviation Administration’s scrutiny, is the company’s flagship product. It was released back in October. It’s capable of shooting 4K video and 13-megapixel stills to capture all that it can in its 10 minutes of airtime.
With the introduction of the Spectacles last year, Snap rebranded itself into a camera company — albeit with only the Spectacles as its sole physical camera product. Adding a drone to the family would give it another not-a-camera camera product. It’s a strategy that sounds crazy on the surface, but might actually warrant some rethinking; Canon, Nikon, and Sony already dominate the actual camera space, but they don’t have any direct competition for Spectacles or the Hover. That said, DJI does have some direct competition with its Spark. While the DJI can’t match Hover’s 4K footage (it’s 1080p only), it has a wider distribution network and a larger company behind it. Currently, you can only get the Hover Camera Passport direct from Apple or Zero Zero.
[via The Verge]
