Long Haul: Dronamics' Journey of Scaling a Cargo Drone Airline
Welcome back to Scaling at Speed, your destination for Speedinvest's most engaging founder journeys.
Getting a business off the ground is famously hard work, even more so if your startup is actually trying to take off from a runway. This month, I spoke to Svilen Rangelov, cofounder and CEO of Dronamics, the world’s first cargo drone airline.
Speedinvest first backed Dronamics in 2015. The company then mostly bootstrapped, building one of the most cost-efficient businesses in a market. Cut to earlier this year, Svilen and team were selected to receive a €30 million EU Investment designed to advance strategic technology in Europe, further validating Dronamics' consistent and pragmatic approach to growth.
If you're interested in a story of persistence, resilience, and the real work and timelines that go into building in European Deep Tech, keep reading.
An excerpt from: Beyond Delivery: How Dronamics Built a Drone Platform for Europe’s Next Decade
Dronamics’ story is one of persistence through adapting to changing circumstances.
In an era where most startups scale with software, Dronamics built an airplane. And not just any airplane, one designed to turn unused airfields into local cargo hubs. As Svilen puts it: “Our full-scale Black Swan is the only large drone, made in Europe, that can cover the entire EU in one flight, carrying the same payload as a small delivery van. It doesn’t need a fully-operational airport or new infrastructure as it can land nearly anywhere with a 400-meter airstrip.”
Dronamics identified some major opportunities to change an entire industry; its Black Swan model enables advanced air logistics, which is particularly beneficial for remote and underserved locations.
In Bulgaria, the capital Sofia serves as the country’s main gateway for air cargo, but as Svilen notes, there are 105 underused airports and airfields across the country that could become local hubs for the flow of goods. Because Dronamics’ drones are smaller than traditional aircraft, their ability to land in more destinations is a massive advantage for the company.
It’s not just a problem unique to Bulgaria. As Svilen adds: “Only 7% of airports worldwide have regular flights, placing enormous pressure on these hubs, while approx. 50,000 airfields that have the potential to be local cargo portals are underused.”
From Our Investors' Desk
From deep sector expertise to our take on the future of tech and venture capital in Europe, here are some of our recent musings from social media.
Our GP, Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, used the announcement of our investment in mimic to weigh in on the current state and future of Europe's robotics industry.
Our Principal, Florian Obst, took to LinkedIn to help two of our AI-focused portfolio companies overcome the ongoing struggle to hire top AI talent across Europe, even offering a mystery gift for successful hires.
Alvaro Perezcano, Principal with our Emerging Markets investment team, shared learnings from the European Investment Bank (EIB)'s first FUNDamentals conference in Luxembourg, particularly the strong connection between the EU and Emerging Markets, and the massive potential for win-win partnerships.
👉 What else we're reading:
Wall Street Muscles In on VCs' Turf With Private Markets Deals - Bloomberg
EU startups commissioner Zaharieva: ‘There’s a lot of propaganda against the AI Act’ - Sifted
‘I’m nervous’: Klarna founder challenges trillion-dollar spending on AI - Financial Times
Thanks for reading — see you next month,
Have feedback, suggestions, or topics you'd like us to dive into? Email us at press@speedinvest.com.