Houston-based drone technology company Soaring Eagle Technologies aims to grow its inspection and data-collection business in the energy and industrial spaces.
Soaring Eagle can provide a range of services for customers, including asset inspections, aerial mapping, aerial data collection and documenting repair needs. But instead of using a helicopter or a fixed-wing aircraft, Soaring Eagle uses unmanned drones capable of navigating safely into remote areas and hard-to-reach spaces.
Will Paden, president of Soaring Eagle, said that when it comes to safety, using drones to perform these aerial tasks far outweighs the alternatives. Paden would know — he's a Blackhawk instructor pilot and an airline transport pilot. He used to transport workers back and forth from oil rigs out of southern Louisiana. Soaring Eagle seeks to combine that aviation expertise with the safety and efficiencies of unmanned aerial systems.
"We have the aviation experience, and we operate like a manned aviation company," Paden said. "Our tool just happens to be unmanned technology."
Compared to a helicopter, drones can get into some pretty tight spaces. The company's technology has been deployed by electric utility providers to inspect power lines and collect terabytes of data in 17 different states, Paden said. Soaring Eagle's technology can also be deployed for inspections and data collection for clients in construction, oil and gas, telecommunications, agriculture and industrial sectors.
Soaring Eagle was born out of the merger between Mississippi-based aerial imaging company Soaring Eagle Imaging and Arizona-based mapping and infrastructure data firm Skynetwest earlier this year. Soaring Eagle is owned and operated by Iapetus Holdings, a Houston-based investment firm with a portfolio of companies primarily in the energy services space.
Craig Taylor, founder and CEO of Iapetus, said Soaring Eagle fits squarely into the investment firm's existing portfolio, which includes Atlas Retail Energy, Atlas Field Services and Gold Coast Utility Specialists. Atlas Commodities, which works with U.S. producers to trade electricity, natural gas and refined products, is another Iapetus portfolio company.
Atlas Field Services, for example, does a lot of work servicing the utility industry with electrical transmission line inspections, audits, hardening projects, vegetation management and safety oversight — all areas where Soaring Eagle's technology can be used over more arcane methods, Taylor said.
"Soaring Eagle ends up being highly applicable to the energy industry," Taylor said.
Taylor founded Atlas Commodities in 2006 following a career with energy brokerages on Wall Street. With a strong focus on the energy services sector, Iapetus moved its headquarters to Houston in late 2009, Taylor said. He started his career in the United States Navy.
This spring, Iapetus Holdings was an honoree in the Houston Business Journal's 2021 Diversity in Business Awards.
