Matthew Sweeny is an Australian-born American aviation and technology entrepreneur and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He is the co-founder and CEO of

Flirtey Flirtey (later rebranded SkyDrop) was a Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washo ...

, a drone delivery service.

Education

Sweeny earned a bachelor's degree in international relations and philosophy from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He became interested in

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

while studying economics in

Shanghai, China Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

on a scholarship and exchange program. He built the prototype delivery drones in his dorm room.

Career

After graduating, Sweeny co-founded

with Ahmed Haider and Tom Bass in 2013, as the first

drone delivery A delivery drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to transport items such as packages, medicines, foods, postal mails, and other light goods. Large corporations like Amazon, DHL, and FedEx have started to use drone delivery services ...

service in the world. He moved to the United States in 2014 and based his company in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, because the city was chosen by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

as one of six test sites for commercial drones. He partnered with the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

, established a Flirtey office on campus, and hired graduates from the university’s Unmanned Autonomous Systems program. In 2014, Sweeny submitted evidence to the Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment Sub-Committee of the House of Lords European Union Committee On The Civilian Use of Drones in the EU. After moving Flirtey to the United States, Sweeny was selected in

Y Combinator Y Combinator, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm launched in March 2005 which has been used to launch more than 5,000 companies. The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, Californi ...

’s summer 2015 program. In 2018, Sweeny was included on

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

’s Disruptor 50 list. In 2023, Sweeny has directed the demise of his company with zero returns to investors.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeny, Matt Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Sydney alumni Australian emigrants to the United States 21st-century Australian inventors