Indemnis

About Indemnis

Indemnis, an Anchorage, Alaska-based company, was established in 2015 by a team of six friends and drone operators: Alan Erickson, Amber McDonald, and Mackenzie Banbury are noted among the founders. The founders' direct experience with drone crashes in their previous video production business spurred the initial concept. What began as a sketch on a napkin evolved into a mission to enable safe, regulated commercial drone flights over people.

The company's core business revolves around developing and manufacturing advanced parachute recovery systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This technology is critical for commercial drone operators who require waivers from aviation authorities like the FAA to legally fly over people, a restriction that has historically limited the expansion of the commercial drone industry. Indemnis serves commercial drone operators, including those in news gathering, public safety, and eventually, drone delivery. The business model includes the sale of hardware—the parachute systems—and related services, positioning itself as a comprehensive solution provider. The company also offers custom integration of its safety systems into new drone and VTOL aircraft designs for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Indemnis' flagship product is the Nexus parachute system, a ballistic parachute launcher designed to deploy in milliseconds upon detecting a drone failure. Sensors monitor the drone for abnormal tilting or falling, and if a disruption is detected, the system deploys a parachute at approximately 90 mph. A key feature is a tube that rapidly inflates to keep the parachute lines from tangling with the drone's propellers and body, a common failure point for other systems. This system was validated as compliant with the international ASTM F3322-18 standard for sUAS parachutes after rigorous testing. Initially offered for the DJI Inspire 2, the company planned to expand its product line to support the Matrice 200 and 600 series drones. In 2017, Indemnis entered a significant partnership with DJI, the leading drone manufacturer, to jointly develop industry parachute standards.