Commercial UAS delivery company DASH Systems designs, manufactures and deploys low-cost one-way delivery UAS that operate in today's air logistics network.

A portfolio company at Los Angeles-based Venture Capital (VC) firm MiLA Capital, DASH Systems created a platform that enables goods to be delivered without landing an aircraft following the runway/infrastructure issue in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico two years ago, which made providing aid to the Caribbean island and unincorporated U.S. territory difficult.

Capable of being mounted to any commercial aircraft, helicopter or UAS, DASH Systems’ delivery UAS enable fast and rapid deployment into any environment.

“Software still needs hardware,” explains Shaun Arora, managing partner at MiLA Capital.

“As software engineers become more ambitious, hardware engineers develop physical counterparts that take on a life of their own, tech you can touch.”

MiLA Capital is also interested in the Internet of things (IoT), as the VC firm notes that IoT devices offer the opportunity to utilize Hardware as a Service (HaaS). MiLA Capital says that through HaaS, companies sell, lease, or offer hardware products for free that serve as a software or service platform. Customers are then charged a recurring fee for the software or service.

With a HaaS business model, MiLA Capital explains, a startup can increase customer LTV, to depend less on single-sale hardware products’ margins, and to “rapidly integrate” software or service updates to combat commoditization.

“We’ve invested in companies that use the HaaS model and offer attractive unit economics,” Arora says.

“In addition to the capital to get things moving offered by traditional VCs, MiLA Capital’s bespoke, dynamic approach provides founders with unparalleled talent and a unique innovation lab.