Wingcopter gets $43 million EU infusion to scale drone deliveries

German UAV manufacturer and service provider Wingcopter has received a major cash infusion from the European Investment Bank (EIB) of €40 million ($43.8 million), designed to fund scaling of the company’s international drone delivery activities.

Wingcopter made the announcement early Thursday morning, calling the €40 million injection a “quasi-equity investment” by the EIB to help the firm “expand delivery services in Europe and abroad, and accelerate (its) innovation efforts.” The backing will notably support the launch and mass production of the company’s new UAV, the Wingcopter 198, which is designed to make triple-drop drone deliveries within ranges of 110 km.

Read: Wingcoper 198 delivery drone passes FAA Special Class Airworthiness milestone

The EIB is owned by European Union member states and backed by the bloc’s InvestEU sustainable project funding organization. It says the funding aims to support a company blazing a trail in battery-powered UAV aircraft and service development – and working to eventually transition those to hydrogen fuel operation.

The EIB’s selection of Wingcopter, however, also seems to reflect its desire to ally itself with a European reference in drone delivery activities, opting over alternatives like Ireland’s expanding Manna Aero, the UK’s Skyports, or US-origin Wing. The choice, while not excluding the EIB from funding other UAV firms later, may generate some debate.

Despite its reputation for cutting-edge aerial tech, Wingcopter has thus far been limited to what even it describes as “several small-scale commercial and humanitarian projects,” including work in Malawi for UNICEF. 

But that may change this summer with the debut of the Wingcopter 198, which will be front and center of a drone project in the German lander of Hesse providing on-demand drone delivery of foodstuffs and consumer goods to rural communities where local retailers are rare or entirely absent.

Read more: Wingcopter in drone and e-bike delivery trial for rural communities

Wingcopter has also been recruited as the principal partner in a massive project to create a 12,000-drone commercial and medical delivery network in Africa, overseen by the Ghana-based subsidiary of a Dubai investment group.

In commenting on the EIB’s investment in Wingcopter, bank vice-president Ambroise Fayolle said the move sought to expand the EU’s support of sustainable technologies in a manner also benefitting a local player in the swiftly emerging drone delivery sector.

“Europe is currently the global leader in cleantech, and we must work hard to maintain this lead,” said Fayolle. “Backing European cleantech pioneers with global reach like Wingcopter is central to our mission. Electric cargo drones are an important vertical segment for a future of sustainable transport and logistics. This investment underlines our commitment to supporting entrepreneurs growing and building advanced green technology businesses in the European Union, strengthening our technological competitiveness, creating highly skilled jobs and opening up new markets, while preserving nature.”

Envious US drone delivery rivals may contend – as in earlier eras featuring accusations between Boeing and Airbus over how various government funding effected competitiveness – that the EIB investment is akin to a EU-subsidy. But Wingcopter CEO Tom Plümmer insists the “quasi-equity stake” (which has yet to be explained) will develop the firm’s activities in ways profiting communities inside the bloc and beyond.

“Our goal is to improve lives by creating many jobs – in R&D and manufacturing at our headquarters in Europe, as well as in the countries where we provide services, where we train and qualify local young people to operate our drone delivery networks,” he said. “It requires strong partners like the EIB to build reliable, efficient and safe delivery drone technology and logistics services.”