US-company Spright is currently building up a drone-based delivery network for health care across the US with more than 300 locations.

The medical flight service provider has signed a purchase agreement with German drone pioneer Wingcopter worth $16 million (€14.4M).

The companies aim to meet the demand for medical drone services in the US with news of partnership being announcement last week.

WHY IT MATTERS

The vision of the strengthened collaboration is an improvement in healthcare access for rural and underserved regions in the US. Medication, medical supplies, vaccines, blood and lab samples will be transported between health care institutions more quickly and on demand.

The network that will benefit from the medical drone deliveries currently consists of hundreds of hospitals in 48 federal states.

Additionally, Spright is supporting Wingcopter in the certification process for its drone model Wingcoper 198 with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Both companies had announced a strategic partnership in August 2021, with Wingcopter and Spright seeking to reduce the healthcare industry’s carbon footprint and create more sustainable supply chains.

THE LARGER TREND

Spright is a subsidiary of Air Methods, the leading US provider for medical flight services. The company offers drone-based end-to-end deliveries for hospitals, clinics and labs in the US.

Wingcopter is known for deploying its eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) drones for humanitarian initiatives. In January last year, the company raised $22 million (€18M) for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

In April 2021, Wingcopter also partnered with Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) to accelerate the delivery of pharmaceuticals.

ON THE RECORD

“This multi-million dollar commercial agreement with Spright is clear evidence that the Wingcopter 198 has a perfect product-market fit”, stated Tom Plümmer, CEO and Co-founder of Wingcopter: “The projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the drone delivery market of more than 50 per cent to a total volume of nearly $40bn by 2030 underscores the rapid establishments of eVTOL technology for last-mile logistics. We are excited to be at the forefront of this fast-growing new market with Spright.”

“We are pleased to have Wingcopter on board as our aircraft technology partner”, declared Spright President Joseph Resnik, adding: “With their leading eVTOL aircraft design, Wingcopter brings the maturity to meet the complex and diverse needs of the US healthcare market. We are confident that our combined strengths will produce innovative, time-saving solutions that meet the needs of our customers and their communities.”