The fast-growing cargo drone manufacturer Wingcopter has found another investor.
The Japanese industrial and retail group Itochu is a new strategic investor, the company from Weiterstadt near Darmstadt announced.
The amount of the investment was not mentioned.
In addition, Itochu will sell the cargo drones from Hesse in Japan from now on.
"We believe Wingcopter is best positioned to become a leader in this space," Itochu said.
With annual sales of $93 billion and 125,000 employees, the 164-year-old company is one of the 100 largest companies in the world according to the Fortune 500 ranking.
He trades in machines, automobiles, paper, steel, chemical and textile products.
Falk Heunemann
Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
Follow I follow
The start-up founded by Darmstadt students in 2017 develops large cargo drones that have a wingspan of almost two meters and can transport deliveries weighing six kilograms up to 110 kilometers.
So far, they have been used, among other things, to transport medicines to regions that are difficult to access.
The civil drones, which are electrically powered, are manufactured in a factory in Weiterstadt.
According to the company, this can produce thousands of drones per year.
Wingcopter currently has 120 employees.
Itochu is the eighth investor for Wingcopter.
A year ago, for example, the company received a cash injection of 22 million dollars, including from Xplorer Capital from the American Silicon Valley, from the Hessian growth fund Futury and from the state of Hesse.
In the United States, the company plans to partner with local air ambulance Air Methods to establish a nationwide drone delivery network for medicines and blood donations.