Wingtra from Zurich has raised US$22 million in a Series B funding round. According to a press release, “some of the most successful Swiss Entrepreneurs” participated alongside European and North American venture capital firms. For example, DiamondStream Partners from Seattle invests in “rough diamonds” of innovative aviation and aerospace and will help Wingtra as it continues to expand in the United States and Latin America.
A spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), Wingtra was founded in 2016 as a startup at the Wyss Zurich Accelerator of ETH and University of Zurich. The company manufactures professional mapping drones that take-off and land vertically and develops the flight software for fully autonomous operation. Wingtra drones are used by hundreds of businesses and organizations in 96 countries worldwide.
The technology is making it easier for surveying professionals in industries like construction and infrastructure, mining, environmental monitoring, agriculture and urban planning and land management to digitize their surrounding world. For this, 3D models and digital twins are created. According to Wingtra, this is up to 30 times faster and 90 percent cheaper than terrestrial surveying.
The company also reported that it has reinforced its senior leadership with five new “industry veteran appointments”: Marcos Bayuelo leaves the mining division of Hexagon AB to become the new VP Product. Aleksandar Kostadinov is the new VP Sales and Customer Success. He was responsible for introducing Leica and Hexagon products to untapped markets. The new General Manager in the USA, Alberto Toledo, was previously at Citrix and helped it boost revenue from US$4 million to US$25 million in three years. Corinna de Maddalena joins as VP People, having led human resources functions in leading tech companies over 15 years. The new COO Marco Schicker comes from Hilti AG, where he handled the transformation of global teams.
