About SkyDemon
We are an independent, founder-owned, successful software company based in the United Kingdom. We've been trading as SkyDemon since 2009. We're committed to helping aviators by creating the highest-quality software and maintaining the highest-quality aeronautical data, in order to provide a service that makes safe flying easier and more fun.
Innovation has always been at the heart of everything we do at SkyDemon, driven by our own designs and influenced by the feedback of tens of thousands of pilots. Since we started we have managed to add only features that are genuinely useful and appreciated by a large proportion of the flying public. What we have ended up with is a product that is intuitive and simple to use, while being immensely powerful.
Over the years we have collected a few awards recognising our achievements and the impact we have had. These include three Queen's Awards for Enterprise, comprising one for innovation and two for international trade, and our founder Tim Dawson was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen in 2020 for services to aviation safety. The photo shown here is the team accepting one of our Queen's Awards.
We have always held ourselves and our product to a high standard by making ourselves readily available by telephone or email, and we can only do that with such a small team by ensuring that very few people encounter problems. We greatly value simplicity, and for that reason we give our subscribers everything we make for one simple price. Everything we do adds up to SkyDemon being one of the most respected and trusted brands in European aviation.
Over £650,000 Donated to Charity
As a company lucky enough to make more money than we need, we recognise our responsibility to give some of that money away to good causes. We split most of our donations across these three categories.
Encouraging more people into aviation benefits all businesses in this industry, and it has been wonderful to read the accounts of many of the people who have been awarded our scholarships.
Our longest-standing scholarships are awarded through Aerobility, who give the disabled community access to the magic and wonder of flight.
We provide whole-PPL scholarships for one person a year through The Honourable Company of Air Pilots.
We help the British Women Pilots' Association support women in either obtaining or advancing their flying qualifications.
We have also offered scholarships through the Air League.
Most people in the world will be affected by issues that these charities help with, but they are picked because their work has helped SkyDemon team members or people close to them.
One in two people will get cancer at some point in their lifetime. We support Cancer Research UK to help their research on beating cancer. We help Bowel Cancer UK in their efforts to support people affected by the fourth most common cancer in the UK.
We give regularly to the British Heart Foundation to help with their heart and circulatory research, and to the Multiple Sclerosis Trust so they can help people make sense of MS. We have also given to Alzheimer's Research UK to help them find a cure for this devastating disease.
We helped Arbor Day Foundation to plant thousands of trees across various countries where we operate.
Most of the SkyDemon team grew up in the south-west of England, and our office is in Frome, Somerset. We support a number of charities based in the area.
We Hear You are a counselling service for people affected by cancer and other serious illnesses. They helped a SkyDemon team member in their time of need, and we have supported them ever since.
Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support help anyone impacted by sexual violence at any point in their life by providing a range of counselling and support services.
We have helped the Trowbridge Town Hall Trust in their efforts to renovate this wonderful building, by sponsoring the fit-out of two world-class recording studios.
Our Journey
In 2006 Tim Dawson, our founder, earned his private pilot's license (PPL). Shortly afterwards he began work on a tool to help him plan his flights, as a hobby. The tool brought together the various disparate pieces of information needed for pilots to make decisions. In 2009 the technology used in the tool was ported to Windows CE and moving-map GPS functionality added, and at this point the decision was made to launch the project commercially. Thus, SkyDemon was born. Take a look at this screenshot of the first version, released in September 2009.
Our early days saw us develop handheld GPS hardware, manufactured in China, loaded with our software and branded SkyDemon. These units helped us to make a profit and fund further development of our core services and the data we were able to provide. Then along came iPads, iPhones, and Android, and everything changed. We invested hugely in developing compelling apps for these platforms, at the same time as we were gaining significant traction among pilots throughout Europe.
Over the years we have set the standard for competing software, by inventing features that have now become widespread. These include modern vector charts that are updated frequently and offer a much clearer view of aeronautical data than printed charts; virtual radar, a unique way of looking at a route and visualising airspace, terrain and other hazards it passes close to; intelligent warnings, and the way we talk to you about the movement of other aircraft that are close to you.
Today, ours is the leading product in our industry. When we attend trade shows to meet our wonderful customers, they are generous with their praise, their feedback and their ideas. We are very fortunate, and long may it continue.
