Swiss-based Wingtra raises €9 million for its VTOL mapping drone

The Swiss drone developer and producer, Wingtra Ltd., recently raised EURO 9 million to further scale its global business. The company leads the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone industry and will use the funds to further grow their global footprint and push the limits in research and development. Credit Suisse Entrepreneur Capital Ltd., Investiere and private investors, as well as existing investors like Zurcher Kantonalbank, took part in this financing round.

“We see high-growth potential with Wingtra due to the multiple impressive technological advancements across a range of dimensions, setting it apart from its competitors,” said Didier Denat, Chairman of Credit Suisse Entrepreneur Capital Ltd. and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking at Credit Suisse in Switzerland. “The attractive and fast-growing market of VTOL drones, together with the company’s recent key hires, will provide an outstanding setting for the company’s future growth.”

Wingtra focuses on optimization as well as research and development around its WingtraOne VTOL fixed-wing survey and mapping drone. Since its market entry in 2017, it has partnered with more than 50 of the biggest survey equipment dealers worldwide and formed a strong user base. The drone’s VTOL capabilities enable it to take off and land like a multicopter but cover wide areas like a fixed-wing UAV. This also allows WingtraOne to carry high-resolution mapping cameras that achieve the highest resolution and accuracy in the professional drone market.

“We’re proud to have developed a product with a great market fit that helps our customers on a daily basis,” said Elias Kleimann, Founder and CFO at Wingtra. “With the funds raised, we’ll scale up our operations, expand our sales globally and improve our outstanding product to advance the aerial survey and mapping industry.”

Over the past two years, Wingtra has experienced rapid growth. Since 2017, the number of employees has more than doubled, from 30 to more than 70, and the WingtraOne has gone from its first sales in Switzerland to markets in more than 40 countries around the world.

Credit Suisse Entrepreneur Capital Ltd., a private equity investment vehicle of Credit Suisse in Switzerland, was one of the key investors in the fundraising round. It provides small and medium-sized businesses as well as young entrepreneurs with risk capital of USD 200 million (also see: www.credit-suisse.com/entrepreneurcapital).