GGV leads $10m round for drone maker EHang

Angel investors Xiaoping Xu, co-founder of ZhenFund and Nick Yang, formerly an executive at Sohu, together with early-stage start-up fund PreAngel also participated.

EHang has been in the process of raising about $1 million via crowd-funding website Indiegogo for its flagship product - Ghost Drone. It surpassed its $100,000 goal and has raised over $600,000 to date.

Unlike other drones, Ghost Drone doesn't require any assembly or separate remote control. It can operate via a mobile app, which sends an alert when the battery is low. The product is expected to be released before the end of this month.

"There are so many potential applications for drone technology - from personal to commercial. We're excited to be working with EHang, because we love their unique approach to building this technology," said Jenny Lee, managing partner at GGV, in a statement. "They are leveraging mobile apps and unique features to make drones that are easy for everyone to use."

EHang cited figures from the Teal Group that the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) industry is estimated to grow from $2.8 billion in 2014 to $5.6 billion in 2023. Though the majority of spending has been on military drones, last year saw a shift towards consumer drone purchases.

The start-up has offices in San Francisco and China. It plans to use the new funding to expand its team and ramp up production.

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