Swoop Aero receives Series A funding to deliver medical goods via drone

Swoop Aero has just closed its Series A funding round with investors Right Click Capital and Tempus Partners returning after a year of global growth. The company will use its newly found capital to boosts its efforts and reach its goal of helping 100 million people have access to better healthcare by 2025 using its delivery drones.

Swoop Aero also hopes to use the money to get its systems certified to fly in urban areas and over people along with establishing a presence in Australia and New Zealand.

The company has also provided the Australian government with a recommendation that healthcare-related drone operations should be prioritized so the country is better prepared and equipped to handle another pandemic.

Eric Peck, CEO and cofounder of Swoop Aero, shared that the company is thrilled to have the support of Right Click Capital, and Tempus Partners is such a “vital stage” in Swoop Aero’s timeline.

Garry Visontay, partner at Right Click Capital, had the following to share on the series A funding round:

We are delighted to back Swoop Aero again. We look for bold founders taking their early steps in building globally significant businesses and the Swoop team have certainly demonstrated early success in their vision to transform health supply chains across the globe. Their technical achievements are remarkable for such a young company, combining both deep aviation understanding and mechatronic systems expertise to develop a world-leading autonomous aviation system.

Alister Coleman, founder and managing partner at Tempus, also wanted to share a few words on the funding round.

Swoop is a great reminder that the best founders don’t stop during difficult times. We’re excited to continue backing Eric and Josh in their Series A, and their mission to deliver Swoop Aero’s vision. We invested in Swoop Aero at the Seed stage and over the last 12 months have seen the team move from strength to strength. Swoop has successfully executed drone networks in countries that need it most. But this logistical challenge isn’t limited to developing nations; Australia has its own challenges and is where Swoop could become a massive asset. We are not far from a future where networks of healthcare drones will ferry urgent supplies, pathology and medicine between hospitals and healthcare clinics in both developed and developing economies.

Swoop Aero

Swoop Aero isn’t new to drone medical deliveries. They have been working with remote villages in Africa to deliver blood samples to hospitals, helping with the fight against measles, tuberculosis, and HIV, among other tasks. Since February, the company’s fleet size has doubled to keep up with the previous demand, and it will continue to grow.

Swoop Aero’s drones can complete round trips of around 260 km (162 miles) and can carry up to 10 test kits or up to 50 vials of blood. The drones have a wingspan of 2.4m (nearly 8 feet) and are required to fly below 122m (about 400 feet) to ensure they don’t collide with manned aircraft. The flights would cost around AU$10 to $15 (US$6.45 to $9.67), which is significantly cheaper than manned transport over such a large distance.

Photo: Swoop Aero