Raven Acquires IP and Patents from Loon

By Michael Dabaie

Raven Industries Inc. said Raven Aerostar acquired intellectual property and patents from Loon LLC, formerly known as Project Loon, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

Alphabet in January said it was winding down Loon. The 176 assets Raven acquired are directly related to stratospheric balloon technology, including balloon navigation, launching operations and balloon manufacturing. Raven said it completed the acquisition of the assets in early May.

"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.

Raven Industries said earlier this week it monitored major active wildfires via stratospheric balloon over the past several months. Raven Aerostar piloted a Thunderhead Balloon program during June, July and August to monitor active wildfires across the U.S.

Write to Michael Dabaie at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2021 15:17 ET (19:17 GMT)

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