Wingtra, founded in 2016 out of ETH Zurich, develops the WingtraOne VTOL drone and complementary software for survey-quality 2D and 3D aerial data. The company recently launched WingtraCLOUD to simplify flight planning, site-based file organization, 3D planning and cloud syncing. Its products are used by major organizations including NASA, CEMEX, Rio Tinto and the US Air Force. Wingtra employs over 100 people, with more than 30 dedicated to research and development. The integration of hardware, data processing and user-friendly software is aimed at reducing engineering costs and improving decision-making on construction, defense and other commercial projects. The firm is pursuing commercial growth and expanded defense deployments following its recent fundraise. Wingtra makes vertical take-off-and-landing (VTOL) mapping drones and develops software for fully autonomous aerial survey flights. Based in Zurich with offices in Fort Lauderdale and Zagreb, the company was founded in 2014 and employs nearly 200 people. Its flagship WingtraOne VTOL and the WingtraOne Gen II (released in 2021) produce survey-grade 2D and 3D maps with high-resolution RGB cameras. Wingtra says its drones are used by hundreds of organizations in 96 countries — including NASA, the Army Corps of Engineers, Texas A&M and Kenya Red Cross — and collectively fly more than 100,000 missions each year, mapping 18 million acres. A single Wingtra flight covering over 100 hectares can be digitized at 0.5 in/px, which the company says is up to 30x faster and 90% cheaper than terrestrial surveying. The company plans to use new funding to improve its technology and add features toward a long-term vision of fully automated data collection, processing, and analysis to reduce manual work and improve data timeliness. Wingtra develops the WingtraOne, a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) mapping drone equipped with high-resolution mapping cameras for accurate aerial surveys. The drone is used in surveying, mining and other industries and can take off and land like a multicopter while covering wide areas. Since its market entry in 2017, Wingtra has partnered with more than 50 major survey equipment dealers and expanded sales from Switzerland to more than 40 countries. The company has grown rapidly over the past two years, increasing headcount from about 30 to more than 70 employees. Wingtra says it will use the funds to scale operations globally, expand sales, and invest in R&D to improve its product and advance the aerial survey and mapping industry. Wingtra builds the WingtraOne, a VTOL drone that takes off and lands like a multicopter and flies as a fixed-wing aircraft, enabling safer landings and heavier payloads such as 40MP cameras. WingtraOne is managed through mission-planning software WingtraPilot and collects survey-grade aerial data that can be post-processed into high-resolution 2D orthomosaics and 3D models for surveying, mapping, construction, forestry, agriculture and other industries. The company raised an additional $5.8M, bringing total fundraising to $10M, which it says will support accelerated market entry and international expansion. Wingtra reports having overachieved company revenue targets and cites traction in the professional drone segment. The company was founded as a spin-off from ETH Zurich and is led by founders Basil Weibel, Maximilian Boosfeld and Elias Kleimann; it is headquartered in Zurich and has assembled a team of about 40 employees. Wingtra points to a Goldman Sachs estimate that the drone market could reach $100B by 2020 as a supporting market tailwind.

Total raised

$63M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Aug 2024