Participated · Equity · Dec 2022

Swoop Aero builds and operates medium-size electric VTOL UAVs designed for logistics use, capable of cruising up to ~100 miles with a 10-pound payload and quick modular reconfiguration. The company has operated in places like south Malawi and the DR Congo for the past three years, completing its 20,000th flight and delivering its millionth item. Its aircraft are designed for off-grid power (solar and similar) and use easily swappable parts so units can be converted between cargo, scientific, or rescue roles. Swoop’s go-to-market approach is to establish a ground presence and bring a suite of aircraft online to meet specific high-priority delivery needs, then expand fleets and customers once networks are operational. The business mixes operating its own networks with leasing aircraft to other operators (roughly an 80/20 split). Management plans expansion to additional markets, including the U.S., and intends to raise new capital to build out multiple networks. Swoop Aero is a drone-powered logistics company that focuses on last- and first-mile delivery. Founders Eric Peck and Joshua Tepper are leading efforts to transform how goods move by making access to the skies seamless. The company played a role delivering vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic when international air routes were closed. Main Sequence announced Swoop Aero had joined its portfolio following a successful $16M Series B round led by Main Sequence. The article's headline and post note the founders turned down a $100M takeover offer. Further coverage is linked via The Australian Financial Review in the announcement. Founded in 2017, Swoop Aero builds and operates two-way drone networks to transport medicines, pathology samples and other essential medical supplies. The company runs operations in five countries through partnerships with global health organizations including UNICEF, UKAid and DFID, and says it has impacted over two million people. During the COVID-19 pandemic it remotely piloted commercially used drones to deliver PPE and critical supplies to Malawi while piloting the aircraft from Australia. In Malawi Swoop Aero tripled its fleet after a 300% increase in samples carried between March and April. The company plans to scale from “millions to tens of millions” and aims to service 100 million people by 2025, while establishing a presence in Australia and New Zealand and expanding its medical logistics offering. It is also pursuing aviation system certification for urban operations and working with the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand and CASA to achieve BVLOS approvals and reduce regulatory friction. Swoop Aero is a Melbourne-based drone logistics company founded in 2017 that deploys two-way drone networks to deliver vaccines, medical supplies, and time-sensitive samples to remote communities. The company completed a four-month commercial vaccine-delivery trial in Vanuatu that enabled approximately 500 children to be vaccinated across 80 islands. It has commenced vaccine transport flights in Équateur province, DRC, conducting 50 flights over five days covering over 2,000 km and delivering two months of vaccines and supplies to four health centers while returning with blood samples. Swoop emphasizes rapid point-to-point delivery (about 20 minutes per flight versus a typical six-hour round trip) to bridge last-mile gaps in healthcare. Its operations team includes former air force pilots, current commercial pilots, and leading engineers. The company plans to use new funding to prepare for production at scale and to enter markets in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia in the second half of 2019 and beyond.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2022

Skyports is a London-based company that designs, builds and operates take-off and landing infrastructure for air taxis and operates electric drones. It partners with eVTOL vehicle manufacturers to enable cargo and passenger flight operations in urban and suburban environments. The company is led by CEO Duncan Walker and runs two business lines: Skyports Infrastructure and Skyports Drone Services. Skyports raised £88.6M in a Series C to support developments across both businesses. Skyports Infrastructure will use the funding to build vertiports, supporting a tripartite agreement with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and Joby Aviation ahead of air taxi launches in Dubai by 2026 and other markets. Skyports Drone Services will expand recently launched offerings including offshore energy asset deliveries, medical deliveries, linear asset inspections and water quality monitoring. Skyports is a London-based provider of advanced air mobility infrastructure and drone services that builds and operates take-off and landing infrastructure for eVTOL passenger and cargo vehicles. The company partners with vehicle manufacturers to enable safe, sustainable, and efficient flight operations in urban and suburban environments. Skyports also runs drone services operations and has active operations across the U.K., Europe, and Asia. The firm raised new capital to consolidate its position in AAM infrastructure and drone operations markets. Management said the funding will enable scaling of drone services in new and existing markets and help build the air taxi ecosystem alongside vehicle partners. The company emphasizes technology development, regulatory engagement, and operational experience while pursuing emissions reductions by using drones for a range of customers. Skyports is a London-based urban air mobility (UAM) infrastructure provider that secures, designs, builds, owns and operates vertiports and runs end-to-end cargo drone delivery services. It works with electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger and cargo vehicle manufacturers to enable safe and efficient flight operations in urban and suburban environments. The company develops and operates cargo drone deliveries across the medical, e-commerce and logistics sectors and has projects in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Skyports raised an extension to its Series A that now totals £6m. It plans to use the funds for site acquisition for passenger and cargo vertiports in cities including Singapore and Los Angeles and to expand its team to fully commercialize its urban and rural drone delivery services. The company is led by CEO Duncan Walker. Led by CEO Duncan Walker, Skyports builds and operates critical infrastructure for urban air mobility and manages end-to-end drone deliveries. The company works with eVTOL passenger and cargo vehicle manufacturers to secure, design, build, own and operate vertiports for safe, efficient flight operations. Skyports develops, implements and operates cargo drone deliveries for medical, e‑commerce and logistics sectors, addressing inefficiencies in traditional transport. It has projects operating across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. The company intends to use new funds to acquire passenger and cargo vertiport sites worldwide and to further develop its drone delivery business. Skyports also plans to expand its team to pursue full commercialisation of its delivery services.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2020

Skydio develops and manufactures autonomous multirotor drones and docked response systems, with three platforms shipping today including the X10, X10D, and the indoor R10. The company exited the consumer market in 2023 to focus on defense, public safety, and critical infrastructure customers and reports substantial commercial traction with deployments across more than 1,200 public safety agencies and 45 of 51 state transportation agencies. Management says Skydio generates “hundreds of millions” in annual revenue, has shipped over 60,000 drones, flown more than 3.7 million customer missions, and serves over 3,800 enterprise customers. Notable contracts cited include a reported $52 million U.S. Army order for nearly 3,000 X10D drones and an €18 million contract with Spain. Skydio operates a Hayward, California factory it describes as the highest-throughput autonomous multirotor production line in the U.S. and plans to scale that facility to meet military and municipal demand. The company intends to use proceeds to scale production, expand its product lineup, and support deployments across public safety, defense, critical infrastructure, and site security.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2019

Elroy Air builds the Chaparral, a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (hVTOL) aircraft designed to carry 300 pounds up to 300 miles and to autonomously pick up and drop off swappable external cargo pods. The company completed first flight of its C1 aircraft with a turboshaft-hybrid-electric powertrain in 2023 and expanded autonomous flight testing and flight envelope expansion through 2024. Its Chaparral flew at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground as part of the Marine Corps MARV-EL program, demonstrating operation in demanding environmental conditions. The aircraft features patent-pending power management IP, onboard sensing and compute for unattended ground logistics, and can be stowed in standard shipping containers and military transport aircraft. Elroy Air plans to productize Chaparral and scale operations to serve defense and commercial customers. The company is headquartered in South San Francisco with flight test operations in Byron, California, and has completed a first close of additional funding to accelerate productization. Elroy Air is developing Chaparral, an autonomous hybrid-electric cargo aircraft designed for 300-mile missions carrying 300–500 pounds with automated flying and cargo-handling capabilities. The vehicle pairs all-electric propulsors with a generator and a turboshaft jet engine to extend range and boost power during takeoff and landing. Elroy has decoupled the cargo pod and implemented GPS and sensing technologies for automated pickup and drop-off, targeting efficiency gains over smaller last-mile drones and eVTOL taxis. The company positions Chaparral as a dual-use system for both defense and commercial markets, with particular interest from the national security community for nimble logistics. Elroy will begin flight validation with the U.S. Air Force and the Navy next year and holds a Phase 3 SBIR contract via Agility Prime. The company has raised $48 million to date and is preparing for certification (Type Certificate and Part 135) while exploring commercial operations abroad or operating systems itself. Elroy Air designs autonomous vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) drones built to carry hundreds of pounds over long distances; its latest aircraft is the Chaparral. The Chaparral features lidar, cameras, radar, an onboard computer running air-traffic management software, and a hybrid gas-electric powertrain. It can carry between 200 and 500 pounds with a roughly 300-mile range and uses a self-guided ground system to autonomously load and unload cargo. The company emerged from stealth in December 2017 and plans real-world testing of its drone fleet this year, followed by commercial programs with a small number of shippers in select locations in 2020. By the tail end of that timeframe Elroy expects to achieve “24/7” delivery capabilities. Elroy sees use cases ranging from urban same-day delivery to delivering medical supplies and aid to remote or disaster-affected areas. The company must address regulatory hurdles, including FAA rules that currently restrict commercial drone operations over people and require line-of-sight flights.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2018

Matternet develops and operates autonomous drones to transport biological samples and other urgent items between hospital facilities. Its drones are operated in partnership with logistics providers such as UPS to run hospital delivery programs. The company is inaugurating a test program at UC San Diego’s Jacobs Medical Center to fly blood samples and other items to nearby facilities under remote monitoring and line-of-sight operations to locations less than a mile away. This is Matternet’s third hospital program; an earlier UPS partnership completed about 1,900 flights at WakeMed in North Carolina, and flights with SwissPost in Zurich have resumed after being grounded following crashes. Matternet recently pulled in a strategic round from healthcare-focused McKesson Ventures. The company’s near-term activity in the article centers on expanding hospital drone delivery deployments through partner-operated flight tests. Matternet develops and operates autonomous delivery drone systems focused on medical logistics, including transporting blood and pathology samples to laboratories. The company began testing its first drone delivery system in Zurich in 2015 and has since expanded operations in Switzerland. Matternet has conducted more than 1,700 flights over densely populated areas and completed more than 850 patient-sample deliveries. The FAA selected Matternet to test unmanned aerial networks in the U.S., including drone logistics operations for hospitals under its UAS pilot program. With the new funding, Matternet plans to expand throughout the U.S. and internationally in urban environments. Matternet designs autonomous delivery drones (the Matternet M2) and integrated systems to enable short-distance, small-package logistics. The M2 can carry a 4.4-pound payload up to 12 miles on a single battery charge in real-world conditions and is built to reload payloads and swap batteries without human intervention. Mercedes‑Benz Vans and Matternet developed a Vision Van concept whose rooftop serves as a launch and landing pad and whose onboard and cloud systems, plus robotic shelving, automatically load items into drones. Matternet also created a hard-shelled case for cargo that can transmit data about contents and destination, enabling potential proof-of-delivery and instant alerts. CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said the vans with integrated drone technology could be put to immediate use where regulations allow. The company has worked with UNICEF to deliver blood samples for HIV testing in Malawi, demonstrating humanitarian and healthcare applications. Financially, SEC filings show Matternet has raised $9.5M of a targeted $11.5M venture funding round, and Mercedes‑Benz has invested an undisclosed amount. Matternet builds a vertically integrated drone-based delivery solution centered on its ONE quadcopter. The ONE can transport up to 1 kilogram over 20 kilometers on a single charge and is intended for items like medicine, documents, and parts. Matternet supplies drones, landing pads, batteries, charging stations and cloud software so partners can focus on operations. The company has flown more drone hours than anyone else and previously tested deliveries in Haiti. Matternet plans three pilots with Swiss Post in Switzerland this summer to explore legal, technical and business capabilities. It has raised $2.2 million in seed capital from investors including Flextronics, Scott Banister, and Nas.