Wingcopter secures $42m in latest funding round

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Wingcopter has raised $42m from financial and strategic investors as part of a Series A extension round, tripling the German firm’s total equity raise to more than $60m. 

With the fresh funding, Wingcopter will be able to expand its drone delivery services globally and ramp up production of its delivery drone, Wingcopter 198. The firm said it has already sold most production slots for this and next year. Wingcopter’s production facility in Germany is designed to manufacture thousands of drones per year and will soon commence partly automated production work.

Wingcopter also plans to use the capital to up its R&D efforts and hire 80 new employees across all departments within months. 

Tom Plümmer, co-founder and CEO, Wingcopter, said: “At Wingcopter, we create efficient and sustainable drone solutions to save and improve lives. For this, we are hiring passionate pioneers with whom we build what has not existed before. The new funding, combined with growing revenues, puts us in an excellent position to establish our industry-leading drone delivery solution with our customers around the globe to optimise supply chains.”

The new capital raise comes shortly after the FAA approved the airworthiness criteria for the 198.

Christoph Eltze, executive board member Digital, Customer & Analytics and IT, REWE Group, added: “REWE Group is one of the most innovative companies in German retail. For years, we have relied on strong partnerships with innovation leaders, especially in emerging trends. With Wingcopter, we have found such a new partner.”

Meanwhile, Wingcopter’s recent partnership agreement with Continental Drones plans to deploy 12,000 Wingcopter drones over the coming years to deliver goods throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

In Malawi, where the firm has been active since 2019, Wingcopter plans to expand its network operations with 198 drones and add more hubs, transporting various medical goods – including emergency medicines and COVID vaccines – to remote health centres.