Australian drone firm Swoop Aero said Tuesday it has completed a $16 million Series B venture capital raise, following over two years of continuous drone delivery of medical supplies across Africa, and delivering over 800,000 items by drone.
The successful Series B raise was led by Australia’s premier deep tech venture capital (VC) fund, Main Sequence, Swoop Aero said in a statement.
Impact-focused fund Giant Leap has joined the venture capital round in addition to In-Q-Tel, the non-profit strategic investor to the United States national security community and its allies, illustrating the value of Swoop Aero’s technology-enabled service to yield large-scale impact and value delivery across industry sectors.
Joining for a third-time re-investment from both Artesian and Folklore Ventures is a testament to Swoop Aero continuing on a strong growth trajectory, scaling manufacturing and network operations across 4 continents, including Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Europe, said Swoop Aero.
It also said the latest funding will enable the company to enter into new markets, scale its integrated logistics networks and expand Australian manufacturing capabilities whilst progressing its renowned impact-driven operations across Africa.
“We’re thrilled to have the support of such exceptional VC funds as we expand our integrated logistics networks across the globe and look to scale these networks to stack and deliver services that will transform how the world moves,” said Eric Peck, Chief Executive Officer of Swoop Aero.
According to the statement, Swoop Aero also strengthened its relationship with manufacturing partner Quickstep Holdings Limited, Australia’s largest independent composites manufacturer, after accepting a strategic investment as they continue to significantly scale up the manufacture of the Kite aerostructure at their Port Melbourne site throughout 2022 and 2023.
The successful completion of the Series B raise exemplifies a significant period of growth for the company over the last two years, overcoming challenges for internationally operating businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Swoop Aero’s technology-enabled platform continued to facilitate operations throughout this period, strengthening health supply chains and supporting efforts to enact rapid pandemic responses, cementing Swoop Aero’s position as a world leader in drone logistics.
Swoop Aero has continued to exponentially grow the reach, scale and impact of network operations globally. Its success is shown in a number of operational achievements, including the progressive expansion of the Malawi and DR Congo networks, alongside VillageReach to improve the accessibility and availability of routine and emergency health supplies. Additionally, offering Swoop Aero’s platform selectively to partners enabled the rapid expansion of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations across a number of new verticals, including ship-to-shore operations for high-value goods and European postal operations.
“Drone logistics is about more than delivery; it’s about establishing a new infrastructure layer for society; an infrastructure layer which leverages the skies for movement of goods and delivery of services in a way that hasn’t been possible in the past. Swoop Aero makes it possible today, and our goal is to scale that infrastructure layer country by country, so our integrated drone logistics service reaches one billion people by 2030,” said Peck.
Swoop Aero also strengthened its relationship with manufacturing partner Quickstep Holdings Limited, Australia’s largest independent composites manufacturer, after accepting a strategic investment as they continue to significantly scale up the manufacture of the Kite aerostructure at their Port Melbourne site throughout 2022 and 2023.
The successful completion of the Series B raise exemplifies a significant period of growth for the company over the last two years, overcoming challenges for internationally operating businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Swoop Aero’s technology-enabled platform continued to facilitate operations throughout this period, strengthening health supply chains and supporting efforts to enact rapid pandemic responses, cementing Swoop Aero’s position as a world leader in drone logistics.
Swoop Aero has continued to exponentially grow the reach, scale and impact of network operations globally. Swoop Aero’s success is shown in a number of operational achievements, including the progressive expansion of the Malawi and DR Congo networks, alongside VillageReach to improve the accessibility and availability of routine and emergency health supplies. Additionally, offering Swoop Aero’s platform selectively to partners enabled the rapid expansion of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations across a number of new verticals, including ship-to-shore operations for high-value goods and European postal operations.
With over 15,000 successful flight operations across 12 different countries, advanced Australian manufacturing capabilities and Type Certification underway of its most advanced aircraft, the Kite, Peck said Swoop Aero will continue to rapidly scale networks across all environments to establish a new infrastructure layer in cities and regions alike.
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