FPV Robotics

What FPV Robotics does

FPV Robotics (株式会社FPV Robotics) is a Tokyo-based private company founded in September 2015 by Masaki Komagata (駒形政樹) that develops drone and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL / "flying car") technology, with registered capital of 30 million yen and a headcount of 1-10 employees. The company's product portfolio spans three pillars: industrial hardware (the WAVER water-air-land infrastructure inspection drone co-developed with JR East and Oki Electric Industry, and the FPV Robotics B-05 logistics drone equipped with Michibiki CLAS centimeter-level satellite positioning for urban and disaster-response applications), education software (the Drone Impact Challenge Education programming kit deployed across Japanese elementary, middle, and high schools, with 20,000+ participants), and services (Drone Impact Challenge FPV racing events, FUTURE ART TOKYO projection mapping festivals, and UAM consulting).

The business model is a hybrid of pre-commercial hardware R&D, demonstration-based service revenue, and grant/government-aligned education programming. FPV Robotics operates almost exclusively through enterprise B2B engagement with no disclosed public pricing; revenue is generated through custom multi-year contracts and project-based work with anchor customers such as JR East, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, local Japanese municipalities (12-locational SDG program), and pilot partners including Kashimaya and Snow Peak for drone delivery. The company distributes via direct enterprise sales, education partnerships, event-based activations, and consortium-based channels (the WaaS Co-creation Consortium of ~140 organizations led by JR East), and relies on government designations — National Strategic Special Zone (2016) and J-Startup (CES 2020) — to access regulatory and capital channels.

The strategic positioning is that of a small, well-networked Japanese systems integrator whose commercial upside depends on converting current demonstrations (UAM vertiports, river inspection, disaster logistics) into recurring enterprise contracts, particularly as JR East and Kawasaki Heavy Industries operationalize flying car services around Japan's rail network. Capital structure remains founder-controlled with only one disclosed institutional backer (Drone Fund, 2017), no M&A activity, and no subsidiaries or international expansion beyond Asia.

Name

FPV Robotics

Legal name

FPV Robotics 株式会社

Website

https://fpvrobotics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

FPV Robotics is a Tokyo-based drone and eVTOL company (founded 2015, 1-10 employees) developing the WAVER inspection drone, B-05 logistics drone, and UAM consulting services for Japanese enterprise customers led by JR East, municipalities, and educational institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drone Systems and Urban Air Mobility

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511), Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (336419)

SIC

Aircraft & Parts (3720), Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812)

akta.pro primary industry

Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV) (IMABAIAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Aerial Robotics (Drones & UAV Autonomy) (HDAAAIAG), Consumer Non-Imaging Drones (Toy/FPV, Racing, Delivery/Utility) (CRACARAH)

Keywords

• Drone manufacturing
• Urban air mobility
• Drone inspection services
• Drone logistics
• STEM drone education

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. UAM/Flying Car R&D: Research and development of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) for urban air mobility applications
2. Drone Manufacturing and Sales: Manufacturing and selling drones for various applications including logistics, inspection, and education
3. Drone Services: Drone service operations including delivery experiments, demonstration flights, and aerial entertainment shows
4. Education Services: Drone Impact Challenge Education program providing drone programming and flight experience education to schools across Japan. Revenue generated through educational partnerships with municipalities and schools.
5. Consulting: Consulting services for urban air mobility planning, vertiport design, and drone integration into urban infrastructure

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

FPV Robotics designs, manufactures, and operates drone systems and provides drone-related services across multiple verticals, including the WAVER water-air-land inspection drone co-developed with JR East, the B-05 logistics drone with CLAS satellite positioning, urban air mobility (eVTOL) R&D and vertiport consulting, drone delivery pilots, drone light shows, and the Drone Impact Challenge education and racing platform. The company primarily serves enterprise and government customers in Japan.

Product overview

FPV Robotics is a Japanese drone and urban air mobility company developing a portfolio of products spanning hardware (inspection drones, logistics drones), software (drone programming education tools), and services (drone racing events, projection mapping shows, UAM advisory). The core products include the WAVER water-air-land inspection drone and the B-05 logistics drone, complemented by the Drone Impact Challenge Education programming kit and Drone Impact Challenge racing events. Services include drone delivery experiments and FUTURE ART TOKYO projection mapping events, all unified by the company's mission to contribute to social creation through drone technology and realize the future mobility society.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Drone Impact Challenge Education: An educational program offering drone flying experience and programming classes for students, currently deployed in elementary and middle schools across Japan. Already experienced by over 20,000 people.
• WAVER
• Drone Impact Challenge

Products and services

• WAVER Water-air-land infrastructure inspection drone developed jointly with JR East and Oki Electric Industry. Enables remote or automatic control for riverbed surveys, supporting approach to survey location, water landing, water navigation, depth measurement, water takeoff, and landing. Designed for railway infrastructure maintenance and inspection.
• FPV Robotics B-05 Logistics Drone
• Drone Impact Challenge Education
• Drone Impact Challenge (FPV Drone Racing)
• Urban Air Mobility (UAM/eVTOL) Services
• Drone Delivery Services
• FUTURE ART TOKYO (Drone Light Shows and Projection Mapping)

Quantifiable outcome

• 20,000+ people have experienced drone education programs
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Kawasaki重工岐阜サービス (Kawasaki Heavy Industries Gifu Service)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 26 September 2024Helicopter service provider for UAM demonstration experiments. Handles charter services and helicopter operations for Morioka Station-adjacent temporary heliport as part of Shinkansen connection experiments.
• Nagano Prefecture and Yamanashi PrefecturecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 January 2024Regional government partners in the WaaS Consortium participating in 'Flying Car x Railway x Town Development' symposium in Nagano. Eight organizations including FPV Robotics, JR East, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and regional governments working on station-to-air mobility integration.
• WaaS Co-creation Consortium (Mobility Transformation Consortium)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 July 2022FPV Robotics participates as a demonstration experiment partner in the WaaS (Well-being as a Service) Co-creation Consortium established by JR East. The consortium, with ~140 member organizations, focuses on next-generation mobility including flying cars and vertiport development.
• Kawasaki Heavy Industries (川崎重工業株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 July 2022Joint participation in the Mobility Transformation Consortium for flying car development. Kawasaki Heavy Industries serves as demonstration experiment secretariat while FPV Robotics contributes vertiport and UAM expertise.
• Kashima (株式会社加島屋)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 July 2022Partner in drone delivery pilot experiments in Niigata. Kashima provided local food products for drone delivery demonstration from their store near the Shinano River to camping sites.
• Core (株式会社コア)coreTechnology or Integration · 25 July 2022Technology partner providing CLAS-compatible receivers for FPV Robotics B-05 drones. Core's precision satellite positioning technology enables high-accuracy automatic flight for urban logistics operations.
• NTT Data Strategy (株式会社NTTデータ経営研究所)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 July 2022Consortium secretariat support and event coordination partner for the WaaS Co-creation Consortium activities and flying car demonstration experiments.
• MS&AD InterRisk Research (MS＆ADインターリスク総研株式会社)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 July 2022Consortium partner contributing social acceptance research and risk assessment expertise for flying car implementation in Japan.
• International Economic Research Institute (株式会社国際経済研究所)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 July 2022Consortium partner providing economic research and market analysis for urban air mobility business models.
• Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting (デロイトトーマツ コンサルティング)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 July 2022Consortium partner providing consulting expertise on flying car future trends and urban/society implications for city planning.
• Snow Peak (スノーピーク)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 21 March 2022Cooperation partner in drone delivery pilot experiment at Mizubering Shinano River in Niigata. Snow Peak BP Niigata store served as destination point for drone-delivered food products.
• JR East (East Japan Railway Company)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 January 2020Joint development of WAVER drone with JR East for riverbed inspection surveys. Partnership focused on work efficiency and safety improvement for infrastructure inspection. JR East and FPV Robotics co-developed the water-air-land inspection drone for railway infrastructure maintenance.
• Oki Electric Industry (沖電気工業株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 January 2020Three-way joint development partnership with JR East and FPV Robotics for WAVER drone technology. Oki Electric contributed technology for the riverbed survey drone development.
• Intel CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 October 2019Intel's domestic partner in Japan for drone light shows. FPV Robotics collaborated with Intel to host a 500-drone light show using Intel Shooting Star drones at the 46th Tokyo Motor Show 2019. Intel's world-leading drone technology combined with FPV Robotics' local expertise in drone entertainment.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Joby Aviation: Leading eVTOL passenger aircraft developer pursuing FAA-certified commercial air taxi service. Comparable in UAM/flying car R&D, vertiport planning, and JR-East-adjacent rail-to-air integration thesis.
• DJI: Dominant global consumer and enterprise drone manufacturer. Comparable drone hardware platform across consumer, inspection, and aerial imaging segments; broader portfolio but overlapping target customers.
• Lilium: European eVTOL developer building a regional air mobility service. Comparable as a global eVTOL competitor also pursuing vertiport networks and airline partnerships for urban/regional flight.
• Wing (Alphabet): Alphabet-owned drone delivery service operating consumer and retail deliveries. Overlaps with FPV Robotics' drone delivery pilots in last-mile automation, urban logistics, and retail/camping-site deliveries.
• Parrot: European drone manufacturer serving consumer, prosumer, and enterprise markets. Comparable in consumer/prosumer hardware and enterprise inspection offerings; broader portfolio with broader geographic footprint.

Direct peers

• Zipline: Drone delivery operator with autonomous long-range logistics flights. Comparable in autonomous delivery, last-mile logistics, and healthcare/disaster-response use cases (analogous to FPV Robotics' B-05 logistics demos).
• Terra Drone: Japan-headquartered global UAS services and technology company providing inspection, surveying, and UAM consulting. Directly comparable in industrial drone services and Japan-based UAM advisory.
• Skydio: US autonomous drone manufacturer for inspection, public safety, and defense. Comparable in autonomous flight technology, inspection use cases, and enterprise go-to-market motion.
• ACSL: Japanese drone manufacturer focused on industrial inspection, logistics, and security applications. Closest direct peer in Japan's domestic UAS market with overlapping inspection and logistics drone offerings.

Regional players

• Blue Innovation: Japanese drone solutions and indoor inspection specialist providing drone platform, fleet management software, and inspection services. Closest Japan-based peer combining drone software/hardware with multi-vertical services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fpv_jp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FPV Robotics