When Skydio, a young maker of drones in San Mateo, California, sent a customer proposal in 2023 to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, its chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, forwarded the email to VC Ben Horowitz. “Which deployment are you looking to do?” Horowitz wrote back. “Whatever you want, Ben,” Gennaro replied, according to emails seen by TechCrunch. Horowitz then sent money to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) police foundation to purchase Skydio drones for the ...