Autonomous aircraft have long been thought to have the most potential, though not so much in the realm of glitzy people-carrying drones as in the quieter world of cargo. This is where the economic savings could be most significant. Large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo have the potential to be faster, cheaper, and produce fewer CO2 emissions than conventional aircraft, enabling same-day shipping over very long distances. In fact, many cargo operators consider the “flying delivery van” to be the holy grail.
A number of companies operate in this space, including: ElroyAir (California, raised $56 million), a hybrid electric, VTOL, therefore short-range; natilus (California, funding undisclosed) uses a combined wing corps and is a larger, longer-term project likely to involve fairly high costs in certification and production. Another player isBeta (Vermont, $886 million raised) which is an electric VTOL.
In this space, outside of Bulgaria (but based in London), appears dronemics. The startup has already obtained a license to operate in Europe and plans to operate a "cargo drone airline" using purpose-built drones. dronemics claims its flagship "Black Swan" model will be able to carry 350kg (770lb) up to 2500km (1550 miles) faster, cheaper and with fewer emissions than currently available options.
It has announced that it has raised a total of $40 million in pre-closing funds. Serie A of VCs and Business Angels.
So far, dronemics has raised from Founders Factory, Speedinvest, Eleven Capital and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF), the investment arm of Tawazun Council, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Svilen Rangelov, Co-Founder and CEO of dronemics He explained: “We are the size of a delivery van (Renault Kangoo / VW Caddy) and can cross the whole of Europe in 12 hours or less at a fraction of the cost of air freight. That means we operate in a space between airfreight and roadfreight, and by creating a faster, cheaper and greener mile in between, we can help customers achieve tremendous savings.”
“Right now, the radius of a same-day fulfillment center is a 2-hour drive… The only way to extend same-day coverage is to use a low-cost half-mile drone for longer distances (a van flying delivery). With our range, we can cover all of Europe on the same day from a single warehouse; nobody can offer that, neither a traditional competitor nor a drone”, he added.
He said that unlike its competitors, they are already licensed to fly (LUC – Light UAS Operator Certificate, under the new EU drone regulations), their cost profile is lower, and they sell capacity, not aircraft: “ This allows the feedback loop between R&D and operations to be much shorter and we can innovate and iterate faster.”
The investment of SDF's venture capital division in dronemics will now mean the creation of a joint venture based in the United Arab Emirates, creating the operations of dronemics in the United Arab Emirates as a hub for the Middle East and North Africa region.
Abdulla Naser Al Jaabari, SDF's CEO and CEO, said in a statement: "When it comes to dronemics, its economy is very promising and potential users of dronemics they would benefit from fast and efficient cargo deliveries.”
The $40 million raised to date is in addition to a €2,5 million ($2,7 million) grant the European Commission awarded to dronemics under its European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme, and the EIC's material commitment to support the Series A round of dronemics with another 12,5 million euros (13,45 million dollars).
