Flirtey
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Drone delivery, Unmanned aerial vehicles |
| Founded | 2013 in Australia |
| Founder | Matt Sweeny, Ahmed Haider, Tom Bass |
| Headquarters | Reno , United States |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Drone delivery services |
Flirtey—which later adopted the name SkyDrop—was a drone delivery enterprise headquartered in Reno, Nevada. It achieved several pioneering milestones in the United States, including the inaugural drone delivery authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015. This was followed by the first FAA-sanctioned urban drone delivery in March 2016 and the earliest FAA-approved commercial drone shipment directly to a customer's residence in July 2016. Additionally, Flirtey collaborated with NASA to create drone air traffic management software. One of its drones is preserved and exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum under the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..
History
Established in Australia in 2013 by founders Matt Sweeny, Ahmed Haider, and Tom Bass, Flirtey moved its operations to Reno, Nevada, in 2014 after forming a partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno. The company made history in July 2015 by completing the first FAA-approved drone delivery, which involved transporting medical supplies to a clinic located in Wise, Virginia. The following month, Flirtey became a graduate of the Silicon Valley seed accelerator Y Combinator. By March 2016, it had executed the first federally authorized urban drone delivery conducted autonomously, supplying emergency items in Hawthorne, Nevada.
In cooperation with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Flirtey performed the initial ship-to-shore drone delivery in June 2016. This operation involved moving medical samples from land to a barge on New Jersey's Delaware Bay, continuing to the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal. July 2016 saw Flirtey join forces with 7-Eleven to carry out the first fully autonomous FAA-approved home delivery to a residence in Reno, marking a significant achievement as the first customer-targeted drone package delivery within the U.S. In January 2017, Flirtey secured $16 million through Series A financing led by Menlo Ventures.
Selected for participation in the FAA’s Integration Pilot Program in May 2018, Flirtey gained expanded operational permissions that typically require special authorization. Within this initiative, it is engaged in four projects, including deploying drones as emergency first responders in Reno by delivering defibrillators to cardiac arrest victims ahead of ambulance arrival. That same year, CNBC recognized Flirtey on its Disrupter 50 list.
In October 2021, Flirtey announced a collaboration with Mesa Air Group, placing an order for four drones with an option to acquire up to fifty additional units. Mesa intends to utilize Flirtey's Eagle drones for delivering food and beverages.
On 26 February 2024, Matt Sweeny announced via LinkedIn that Flirtey would cease operations due to depletion of funding.