Benzinga | Sep 30, 2021 02:27PM EDT

Raven Industries Acquires Intellectual Property From Loon

Acquisition Drives Additional Value as Opportunities Increase

Raven Industries, Inc.((the Company, NASDAQ:RAVN) announced today that Raven Aerostar, the world leader in high altitude lighter-than-air technology, has acquired intellectual property (IP) and patents from Loon, LLC (formerly known as Project Loon), a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and the developer of an autonomous constellation of high-altitude balloons for communications. In January, Alphabet announced the wind down of Loon. The 176 assets acquired by Raven are directly related to stratospheric balloon technology, including balloon navigation, launching operations and balloon manufacturing.

Raven Aerostar continues to deliver key capabilities, including remote sensing, long-range communications and scientific research.

"For the past nine years, Raven partnered with Loon on the development of this unique technology. Loon launched and navigated thousands of balloon platforms to help serve its mission. In parallel, we leveraged the Loon partnership and our 60 year history of balloon expertise to design and build our Thunderhead stratospheric platform," said Jim Nelson, Division Manager of Raven Aerostar. "Having the technology under one house is exceptionally valuable, especially as demand for our solutions continue to increase."

The acquisition of the assets was completed on May 4, 2021.