Wingtra Drone-Based Mapping System Secures $22m Series B Funding for Expansion

Wingtra, one of the world’s most advanced drone-based mapping system companies, has secured $22 million in the recently concluded Series B funding. The tech firm, whose drones have been tapped by leading space organizations like NASA and the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out targeted survey missions globally, is expected to use the funds to map out a strategic expansion plan and add new features.

Wingtra’s Fully Autonomous Drone Flights Are Expanding Globally

According to Maximilian Boosfeld, the co-founder and CEO, Wingtra’s product roadmap remains confidential but looks forward to a decade from now. The Switzerland-based company believes it has the ability “to take people out of the loop” while at the same time, building solid technical foundations touching on autonomous data collection and analysis.

“Our product roadmap is highly confidential, but let’s say our high-level vision looking a decade or so forth is to take people out of the loop and have completely automated data collection, processing, and analysis,” Maximilian told TechCrunch.

Wingtra is based in Zurich, Switzerland with its nearly 200 staff spread across two locations; Fort Lauderdale and Zagreb. The company’s success has within a short time become noticeable globally, with Wingtra claiming it is currently the largest producer of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones.

By tapping the latest technologies in the drone industry, it has been able to manufacture mapping systems for its unmanned aircraft while equipping them with self-developed software to achieve fully autonomous flights with the ability to collect and process aerial survey data.

Surveyors around the world use Wingtra’s drones to collect data across many industries such as mining, construction, agriculture, urban planning, land management, and environmental monitoring among others.

According to TechCrunch, Wingtra’s Series B funding drew support from an assortment of investors namely DiamondStream Partners, EquityPitcher Ventures, Verve Ventures, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), Ace & Company, and John L. Steffens, founder of Spring Mountain Capital.

Wingtra is just a year short of a decade milestone since it was incepted in 2014 when Boosfeld, Basil Weibel, Elias Kleimann, and Sebastian Verling were working on a thesis while studying at ETH Zurich’s Autonomous Systems Lab.

Their research paper proposed a design for a compact drone that could achieve vertical take-off and landing in a manner similar to a helicopter, but could also convert to a fixed-wing configuration for extended-distance travel.

The four researchers decided to register Wingtra as a commercially viable tech company to produce technologically advanced drone systems, which landed them a position in the Wyss Zurich accelerator program.

This is an incubator program focusing mainly on commercializing scientific breakthroughs, which was at the time, run by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. While under the umbrella of the program, the four created a mapping and surveying UAV dubbed WingtraOne.

The four researchers boast many successes over the years with the firm’s flagship product—a drone called WingtraOne VTOL. Wingtra reckons that this drone is used across 96 countries by hundreds of businesses, including government agencies like NASA.

Other high-ranking organizations and institutions using Wingtra products are the Texas A&M University, Army Corps of Engineers, The Ohio State University, Rio Tinto, CEMEX, and the Kenya Red Cross.
Combined, Wingtra’s drones make over 100,000 flights every year and have been used to map 18 million acres of land and sea.

The drone-based mapping system company launched WingtraOne GenII, its second-generation drone in 2021. It can create survey-grade 2D and 3D maps using RGB cameras.

The WingtraOne GenII can make a single flight covering more than 100 hectares which can be digitized at a maximum speed of 0.5 in/px or 30 times faster and at a cost 90% cheaper compared to terrestrial surveying.
However, Wingtra’s drones are mainly purchased in three major industries namely construction, urban planning, land development, lastly mining.

The Wingtra CEO in a statement to TechCrunch said that managing such large assets becomes difficult due to the lack of affordable, accurate, and current data. The problems that follow are mainly interconnected because the lack of data would lead to inefficiencies, exorbitant costs, and avoidable CO2 emissions.

However, terrestrial surveillance has been known to be labor intensive and often dangerous to the people risking their lives. If not conducted to satisfactory standards there would be fines when natural disasters like landslides occur.

Wingtra’s Drones Are All Weather

The drones manufactured by Wingtra are highly sought after due to their all-weather capabilities. Moreover, operators require only minimal training to start using drones because they are equipped with the WingtraPilot app’s simple operating system that stands out for its automated route planning features.

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is an example of an organization utilizing Wingtra drones to enhance the collection of surveying data for the upkeep and maintenance of the state’s roadway infrastructure.
By flying drones over construction sites each day, the ALDOT can monitor erosion control measures such as silt fences more accurately.

Red Cross Kenya is the other organization tapping Wingtra drones to manage a major locus invasion destroying vegetation mainly in farms. The real-time data collected is analyzed and used to predict the migration patterns of the swarms of locusts, and estimate damages to crops – ultimately helping relevant government agencies to make timely decisions on how to control the invasion.

Wingtra like other businesses faces competition from rival firms like AgEagle’s eBee, and DJI’s Phantom 4 RTK and M300 drones. Wingtra’s CEO Boosfeld told TechCrunch that eBee played a critical role in the mainstream adoption of industry-level drone photogrammetry.

Similarly, Wingtra and AgEagle are at the forefront of survey and mapping industries for distinct reasons. The eBee X is a dependable fixed-wing drone that is highly developed for survey purposes, while WingtraOne, which is a VTOL drone, provides excellent image quality for coverage.

As already established, Wingtra stands out for its vertical take-off and landing capabilities while eBee X is a leader in the traditional fixed-wing drone segment which requires launching by hand while landing is accomplished on its belly.

According to Boosfeld, operators of eBeeX fixed-wing drones must ensure that landing and take-offs have enough clearance, not to forget the terrain, which is supposed to be not only dry but soft enough to support the unmanned ground-controlled aircraft.

Furthermore, Wingtra’s drone technology cuts through the demand for eBee X drones because according to the CEO, aerial mapping cameras tend to be heavy, and the difficulties encountered when trying to mount them on fixed-wing drones.

“Currently, only VTOL drones can offer an image resolution of 42MP, which translates to better accuracy, and ultimately, more reliable map reconstruction,” Boosfeld said.

Boosfeld stated that the WingtraOne and the Phantom 4 RTK are quite different, even though the latter is marketed for surveying and mapping purposes.

In its rudimentary form, the Phantom 4 RTK is a typical multirotor, according to Boosfeld’s explanation. In other words, it is just like a helicopter in the air which makes WingtraOne the go-to drone system for expanded coverage with the ability to map vast projects. Multirotor drone systems like Phantom 4 RTK are only suitable for limited areas.

Boosfeld reckons that DJI’s M300 is a suitable option for tasks like inspection, search and rescue, and medium-range applications, but lacks efficiency when compared to dedicated mapping systems.

Although it comes in sizes much larger than the Phantom 4, its capabilities are inhibited by the multirotor feature, depending mainly on larger batteries to lift it.

The DJI’s M300 is also held back by regulations in the United States amid allegations of ties with the Chinese Military. On other hand, Wingtra has no problems with US political issues and can be used expansively across the world.

DiamondStream Partners’ Dean Donovan while referring to the firm’s participation in the $22 million Series B funding, lauded Wingtra with praises as simple to use and highly reliable mapping and surveillance technology.
The investor is looking forward to helping Wingtra expand its wings to the United States and Latin America, which are important geographies for growth.

“We are very excited about partnering with Wingtra. The product’s simplicity of use, its high-reliability engineering, and the company’s global network of value-added resellers and service providers have positioned it to expand its leadership in the $83+ billion mapping segment of the aerial intelligence market globally, Donovan said.

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