German drone technology company Wingcopter has revealed that it has secured more funding from a new investor, Copenhagen-based Nordic Secondary Fund, as well as from existing shareholders and the European Investment Bank, to expand its services to clients in Europe and beyond.
In a statement, Wingcopter co-founder Tom Plümmer said his company would use the new investment to further expand its technology offering to enterprise and other clients.
The company reckons it was its success in obtaining type certification for widespread commercial use of its delivery drones in the US, Brazil and Japan, as well as its strategic business expansion through the entry into the field of drone-based surveying of critical infrastructure using state-of-the-art laser scanners (LiDAR), that played a part in convincing investors to open their purses.
At the time of writing, the company had not revealed the exact amount it had received.
“Europe needs technology champions more than ever. With the new financing and strengthening of our leadership team, we look to the future with confidence, firmly believing that we have the potential to become such a champion and bring this potential to full fruition together,” Plümmer said.
To this end, the company has supplemented its executive staff, adding a co-CEO and a financial officer.
Dr. Bernhard Klumpp, a seasoned automotive industry manager, has joined the company as Co-CEO and Chief Product Officer, bringing decades of general management and production scaling experience in different roles at Continental to the table.
Dr. Klumpp becomes the third Managing Director of Wingcopter alongside Tom Plümmer (Co-CEO) and Jonathan Hesselbarth (CTO).
Tobias Jordan joins as Chief Financial Officer to further develop Wingcopter’s strategic finance function. He had brought with him an impressive 21-year track record in technology investment banking at Credit Suisse before overseeing the growth of electric mobility startup Dance as CFO.
“Both Bernhard and Tobias have invaluable knowledge and experience in scaling companies – Bernhard in the industrial environment, Tobias on the financial side,” said Plümmer.
“Having laid a solid foundation over the past few years, we will now literally rise to new heights from this launchpad.”
Wingcopter hopes the new executives will help drive the transition to mass production of the Wingcopter 198, the company’s flagship drone, and its global commercialisation, as well as capitalise on the promising opportunities in both logistics and the new business area of aerial data collection.
“We are excited to partner with Wingcopter as we share the team’s vision to drive meaningful change,” said Peter Sandberg, Founding Partner and Managing Director at Nordic Secondary Fund.
“By enabling sustainable instant deliveries and the efficient inspection of critical infrastructure through aerial laser scanning, Wingcopter addresses two rapidly growing markets with the same multi-purpose platform.
“Developing high-tech drone technology in Europe to tackle critical challenges for global customers not only demonstrates technical excellence but also makes an important contribution to a stronger and more sustainable European future.”
Wingcopter was founded in 2017 by Tom Plümmer, Jonathan Hesselbarth, and Ansgar Kadura and has since grown into a leading technology company for unmanned systems and services.