Rakuten AirMap Opens Skies for Commercial Drone Revolution

On March 15, 2017, Rakuten announced the establishment of joint venture Rakuten AirMap, Inc. Rakuten entered the commercial drone field in April 2016 with the launch of the Sora Raku drone delivery service, of which there are high hopes, with the commercial drone market forecast to deliver up to 127.3 billion dollars in global economic impact in the coming years. Now, the newly established Rakuten Airmap, Inc. will provide Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) solutions to drone operators and airspace managers in Japan. This report examines the future prospects for Rakuten Airmap's drone business.