Skydio

How it happened

Skydio is a US maker of autonomous drones for defense, public safety and enterprise inspection, and became the most valuable American drone startup. Backed by a16z, IVP and UP.Partners, it reached a ~$2.5B valuation in a 2023 Series E, and although it pivoted successfully toward defense, the broad repricing of richly valued startups caught up with it: with no new priced round, PitchBook estimated its value near $509M by late 2025, roughly 80% below peak. Glassdoor reviews stayed largely enthusiastic about the tech, mission and talent, but consistently described an intense grind of long hours and lean teams — and, through 2024-25, higher turnover and lean benefits held down to preserve runway, with a payout still distant.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.