A German drone company revolutionises last mile delivery, empowering communities and delivering goods and medicines sustainably
Tom Plümmer always wanted to make films with a purpose. So, during his gap year, he ventured to West Africa to work in a school run by a local non-governmental organisation. There, he used drones to document the profound challenges faced by the local population each day.
Tom Plümmer
“I saw many people dying simply because they have no access to standard medicines like painkillers or oxytocin, the small clinics are hard to reach, and the roads are not good,” he says. “When I was back in Germany, I thought about how I could use drones to carry medicines, lab samples, blood, and vaccines to save lives, instead of documenting them.”
In 2015, Plümmer heard about Jonathan Hesselbarth, who built innovative drones in his parents’ basement. “I was looking for a drone which can carry a payload over a long range, and he had built such a prototype,” says Plümmer. “When we met, it was like two passionate people coming together to make a change to the problems we saw.”
With Ansgar Kadura joining the duo to provide the business insight, Wingcopter was born in 2017 in the German state of Hessen. Since then, the Wingcopter 198 has made its mark in a number of small commercial and humanitarian projects, delivering essential goods and medicines to people across the globe.
“Our goal is to use efficient and sustainable drone technology to improve and save lives everywhere,” says Plümmer.
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The world’s first triple-drop delivery drone
Wingcopter’s drone is a striking piece of technology. It has a science fiction movie feel with its futuristic, aerodynamic, and chrome design. The giant wings (it has a 198 cm wingspan) and eight propellers attached to its arms surely help to create this perception. “Historically, drones, besides the military ones that are scary and heavy, look like spiders, with the littler arms everywhere and lots of propellers,” says Plümmer.
But the Wingcopter design is not just about aesthetics. It combines vertical take-off capabilities with the efficiency and speed of fixed-wing aircraft. Wingcopter’s patented tilt-rotor mechanism allows it to seamlessly shift from a helicopter-style vertical take-off to smooth horizontal flight like an aeroplane.
“As soon as the Wingcopter has reached its desired flight altitude, all four inner rotors swivel by 90 degrees and turn the drone into an unmanned aeroplane in a matter of seconds,” says Plümmer. “This smooth transition enables ranges of up to 110 kilometres in one flight and even a Guinness world record speed of 240 kilometres per hour.”
Wingcopter is building the first triple-drop delivery drone. The drone will be able to deliver up to three separate packages to different locations with a total weight of 5 kg during a single flight. Each delivery is executed with precision as the drone shifts from flight mode to hover mode, lowering the package within seconds. This automated process reduces delivery costs and optimizes route efficiency.
Thanks to the tilt-rotor mechanism, it can withstand difficult weather conditions, such as strong winds and rain. This makes it a good option for middle- and last-mile deliveries for remote places or challenging locations, such as islands, mountains, and ships.
Supporting the tomorrow’s innovations
Wingcopter started as a passion project by three students in Hessen with zero budget. Hesselbarth, for example, comes from a family of flight instructors and grew up building models of aircraft and gliders during the weekend. They borrowed money from their parents to buy material to build the first prototypes.
Today, the company has currently 150 employees and collaborates with many companies across the world. Its headquarters remain in Hessen, just a stone's throw away from where it all started in that basement. Its drones are an environmentally friendly alternative for deliveries, replacing motorcycles, vans, and helicopters, contributing to the transition towards a more sustainable economy.
Financing last-mile delivery
The European Investment Bank is backing Wingcopter, with a €40 million quasi-equity investment, signed in December 2022. The financing is supported by InvestEU, an EU programme that aims to trigger more than €372 billion in additional investment in Europe from 2021 to 2027.
“In Europe, we have a wealth of ideas, but often lack the initial investment to bring them to life,” says Tiago Lopes, a European Investment Bank senior engineer who has worked on this deal. “As a result, these companies may be compelled to sell or move outside Europe. We aim to be a game changer by providing the necessary capital for companies to continue innovating.”
With the EU bank’s financing, Wingcopter can “continue to develop our drone technology, building drone logistic networks to run our services, and expand our factory in Hessen, so we can build thousands of drones in the future,” says Plümmer.
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Delivering a better future
The potential impact of Wingcopter goes beyond business success. These drones have the power to change communities worldwide, improving accessibility and enabling faster, more efficient delivery of essential goods.
In Malawi, Wingcopter delivers life-saving medicines and medical supplies to rural communities in hard-to-reach areas, together with UNICEF and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“People in small villages or rural areas many times suffer from limited mobility due to bad infrastructure,” says Plümmer. “Even here in Germany, where we have good roads, people can suffer because they simply can't get their daily medicine or their daily needs like food.”
The drones can be used to deliver everyday goods, too. This autumn, the company launched a pilot project in southern Hesse to test the potential of delivering groceries and other consumer goods on-demand. The aim is to establish a sustainable delivery service that enhances local supply in rural communities.
Already running on pure battery power, the Wingcopter team, together with Hamburg-based ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research GmbH, is currently developing a green hydrogen energy system to power Wingcopter's drones for even longer flight times
The company intends to build sustainable last-mile delivery networks, enabling it to deploy drones globally. These networks will be run by local people.
“Wherever we build a drone logistic network, we will empower the local youth to use the technology to run the networks,” says Plümmer. “Running these networks will give them good income, help them create and support families, and pay the school fees of their children.”
