Wingcopter, a German startup that specializes in developing drones for delivering medicines and food products in remote areas, has secured a €40 million ($43.4m) investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The investment will be provided in quasi-equity, which means that part of it will be in equity and the rest in the form of a loan at risk, although the exact proportions have not been disclosed. The funding will allow Wingcopter to expand the production of its Wingcopter 198 drone and develop its own logistics systems.

The Wingcopter 198 drone can carry up to 5 kilos and cover 100 kilometers, and can deliver up to three packages to three different locations during the same flight. The drone has been used in Malawi in partnership with UNICEF to deliver drugs to hard-to-reach areas. The company aims to use the investment to expand its delivery services in emerging regions, particularly in Asia and Latin America.

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Wingcopter plans to test its drone in Germany this summer as part of a pilot project for on-demand transportation of food and other consumer goods to supply rural German communities. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. To make the drones more accessible to organizations that would use them, the start-up will rent out its drones.

In addition to expanding its production and delivery services, the funding will also be used to develop Wingcopter’s own logistics and delivery systems, allowing the company to manage its service and fleet up to order tracking. Part of the investment will also be used to accelerate the company’s project to switch its Wingcopter 198 from battery power to hydrogen, in order to reduce CO2 emissions and improve the drone’s autonomy.

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Wingcopter’s specialization in delivering medicines and other essential goods in remote areas has been successful, similar to its American counterpart Zipline, which raised $330 million last month and operates a drone blood delivery service in Rwanda. Both companies have focused their efforts in Africa, where permits are easier to obtain for such use cases.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard