Wingcopter 198
[pilot]aerial · drones · 1 deployments in catalog
Verified: Wingcopter (founded 2017, Darmstadt Germany; founders Tom Pluemmer (CEO), Jonathan Hesselbarth, Ansgar Kadura) makes the Wingcopter 198 delivery drone, focused on medical/logistics delivery in Africa/remote areas. Holds BVLOS permissions in Germany + other European regions; ran real BVLOS medical deliveries in Malawi (70 BVLOS flights). ~$110M raised (EIB EUR 40M May 2023)., Maturity = pilot / early-commercial: Real BVLOS deployments exist but at humanitarian-project scale; the flagship 12,000-drone Africa plan is a multi-year TARGET not realized volume; very low revenue (~$1.73M 2024, aggregator estimate) + dependence on EIB + secondary funding indicate it has not reached self-sustaining commercial scale. US/Brazil/Japan type certification in progress, NOT granted; no FAA BVLOS., CORRECTION (not insolvent): The 'German drone startup financial struggles / insolvency' storyline is VOLOCOPTER (a different firm, filed insolvency Dec 2024), NOT Wingcopter. Wingcopter's risk signal is thin revenue + repeated capital raises, not a filed insolvency. Do not conflate., Claimed but NOT verified: 12,000 drones across 49 African countries (a 5-year plan, not deployed volume); US/Brazil/Japan type cert (in progress only); large-scale recurring commercial delivery revenue; $1.73M 2024 revenue is a third-party aggregator (CB Insights) estimate.
Manufacturer
WingcopterForm Factor
aerial
Lifecycle
pilot
Operational Reality
Audited
Deployments
1
Target Price
Custom Quote
- AERIAL
- PILOT
Description
Wingcopter, founded in 2017 in Darmstadt, Germany by Tom Pluemmer, Jonathan Hesselbarth, and Ansgar Kadura, makes the Wingcopter 198, a fixed-wing tilt-rotor electric vertical-takeoff delivery drone aimed at medical and logistics delivery in Africa and other remote regions. It carries up to five kilograms across up to three drop sites, ranges up to seventy-five kilometers at up to 150 kilometers per hour, and lets one operator monitor as many as ten aircraft, on roughly 110 million dollars of total funding including a 40-million-euro European Investment Bank investment in 2023 and a Series B closed in June 2025. The registry records it at pilot, leaning early-commercial, maturity: it holds beyond-visual-line-of-sight permissions in Germany and other European regions and ran real BVLOS medical deliveries in Malawi, but at humanitarian-project scale, while its flagship plan to deploy twelve thousand drones across forty-nine African countries is a multi-year target rather than realized volume, its revenue is very low at an aggregator-estimated 1.73 million dollars in 2024, and its US, Brazil, and Japan type certifications are in progress rather than granted, with no FAA BVLOS authorization. A correction worth recording: the storyline of a German delivery-drone startup struggling financially into insolvency belongs to Volocopter, which filed for insolvency in December 2024, not to Wingcopter, whose risk signal is thin revenue and repeated capital raises rather than a filed insolvency.
Key facts & specs
- website
- https://wingcopter.com/wingcopter-198
- maturity
- pilot
- lifecycle
- active
- manufacturer
- Wingcopter
- deployments count
- 1
- Maturity stage
- pilot
- Specs
- Wingcopter 198: fixed-wing tilt-rotor eVTOL delivery drone; payload up to 5 kg (triple-drop, up to 3 packages); range up to 75 km; max speed 150 km/h; one operator can monitor up to 10 aircraft. ~$110M total funding (EIB, REWE, ITOCHU, DRONE FUND). Series B closed Jun 27 2025.
- Weight kg
- 25
- Form Factor
- aerial (fixed-wing tilt-rotor eVTOL delivery drone; medical/logistics)
- Payload kg
- 4.7
- Walk speed ms
- 25
- Range
- up to 75 km
- Operating speed
- up to 150 km/h
- Drive type
- fixed-wing tilt-rotor eVTOL
- Autonomy level
- one operator can monitor up to 10 aircraft
Safety record
No incidents on record for Wingcopter 198.
FAQ
What is Wingcopter 198?
Wingcopter, founded in 2017 in Darmstadt, Germany by Tom Pluemmer, Jonathan Hesselbarth, and Ansgar Kadura, makes the Wingcopter 198, a fixed-wing tilt-rotor electric vertical-takeoff delivery drone aimed at medical and logistics delivery in Africa and other remote regions. It carries up to five kilograms across up to three drop sites, ranges up to seventy-five kilometers at up to 150 kilometers per hour, and lets one operator monitor as many as ten aircraft, on roughly 110 million dollars of total funding including a 40-million-euro European Investment Bank investment in 2023 and a Series B closed in June 2025. The registry records it at pilot, leaning early-commercial, maturity: it holds beyond-visual-line-of-sight permissions in Germany and other European regions and ran real BVLOS medical deliveries in Malawi, but at humanitarian-project scale, while its flagship plan to deploy twelve thousand drones across forty-nine African countries is a multi-year target rather than realized volume, its revenue is very low at an aggregator-estimated 1.73 million dollars in 2024, and its US, Brazil, and Japan type certifications are in progress rather than granted, with no FAA BVLOS authorization. A correction worth recording: the storyline of a German delivery-drone startup struggling financially into insolvency belongs to Volocopter, which filed for insolvency in December 2024, not to Wingcopter, whose risk signal is thin revenue and repeated capital raises rather than a filed insolvency.
Is Wingcopter 198 actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. Wingcopter 198 is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
What are the specs of Wingcopter 198?
Wingcopter 198's recorded specifications on the DEPLOY registry: Weight: 25; Payload: 4.7. See the Specs section for the full sourced set.
Who makes Wingcopter 198?
Wingcopter 198 is made by Wingcopter, based in Darmstadt, Germany, founded in 2017.
Where is Wingcopter 198 deployed?
1 verified deployment of Wingcopter 198 is on the DEPLOY registry, including at Lilongwe.
Can you buy Wingcopter 198?
Wingcopter 198 is in pilot deployments with named customers and is not yet broadly for sale.
Is Wingcopter 198 approved by regulators?
Wingcopter 198 has 1 regulatory record on the DEPLOY registry: regulatory filing, active. See the Regulatory filings section for each agency source.
What are alternatives to Wingcopter 198?
On the DEPLOY registry, comparable aerial robots to Wingcopter 198 include Wing Delivery Aircraft, Skydio X10, Zipline Platform 2 (P2), Prime Air MK30.
How does Wingcopter 198 compare to Wing Delivery Aircraft?
Wingcopter 198 and Wing Delivery Aircraft (Wing · 35 deployments) are both aerial robots on the DEPLOY registry. Wingcopter 198 has 1 verified deployment on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
Is Wingcopter 198 a top aerial?
On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, Wingcopter 198 ranks in roughly the top 77% of aerial models tracked by the registry.
What is Wingcopter 198's maturity stage?
Wingcopter 198 is at the pilot stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Pilot stage means at least one named-customer trial deployment is verified.
Is Wingcopter 198 safe?
Wingcopter 198 has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.