Street Talk

High-profile drone delivery start-up Swoop’s assets sold

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Mar 26, 2025 – 5.44pm

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Drone-powered logistics business Swoop Aero’s long list of backers can kiss goodbye to their investments, as its administrators reach a deal to sell the high-profile start-up.

Sources said Philip van der Burg, the former CEO of Swoop’s rival drone player Carbonix, has cobbled together a new company called Kite Aerospace to buy Swoop’s key assets.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.