HAPSMobile, a joint venture by SoftBank and AeroVironment, invested $125 million in Loon, Alphabet‘s stratospheric balloon subsidiary. The investment is part of their long-term strategic relationship to advance the use of high altitude vehicles, such as balloons and UASs, to accelerate the deployment of high altitude network connectivity solutions. Loon has many patents and patent applications in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles sector, focusing on establishing communication networks and navigating their balloons. AeroVironment, on the other hand, has an extremely diverse patent portfolio across the UAV sector. The partnership clearly highlights each company’s strength in intellectual property: Loon‘s infrastructure in this space, AeroVironment‘s wide array of UAV technology, and SoftBank‘s financial expertise.