Drone start-up Swoop Aero named World Economic Forum innovator

This Melbourne tech company is defying widespread lay-offs and aiming to impact 1 billion people by 2030.

Eric Peck is the CEO and co-founder of Swoop Aero. Picture: Aaron Francis

Fresh off a $16m capital raise, Melbourne-based drone delivery start-up Swoop Aero has joined the World Economic Forum as a “global innovator”, and its chief executive says he is defying widespread lay-offs and will continue to add headcount.

The company – which provides drone delivery of medical supplies across Africa – is the latest member of the group of promising start-ups and scale-ups.

CEO Eric Peck has a stated goal of providing an integrated logistics service to 100 million people in 2025, then scaling to 1 billion by 2030.

Swoop Aero was the world’s first company to deliver a vaccine by commercial drone and now has approvals to fly in 14 countries, with operations spanning the UK, Malawi, Mozambique, Australia and New Zealand.

“Being part of the forum will allow us to collaborate with some of the world’s most innovative organisations as we deploy a new infrastructure layer for society to catalyse the next giant leap in how essential supplies and services are delivered,” said Mr Peck, a former pilot. “Being part of the forum also allows us to influence the global regulatory landscape to ensure consistency and replicability across international jurisdictions.”

Start-ups across the board are seeing cuts to their valuations and many are being forced to lay-off staff, but Mr Peck said Swoop Aero is continuing to grow despite the tightening conditions. He did not disclose the company‘s current valuation.

“Our growth trajectory is premised on introducing integrated drone logistics as a new infrastructure layer for society, which simultaneously transforms delivery of supplies and services, creates high tech jobs, and reduces our carbon footprint,“ he said.

“Across our African operations, we estimate we‘ve reduced the health system’s carbon footprint by over 500 tonnes; we can’t wait to scale that impact up at home.

“We’ve actually grown our crew by more than 60 per cent this year, alongside the establishment of a new manufacturing facility in Melbourne. The value of our service means that far from laying off staff, we are continuing to grow, and expect to have over 100 people in the team by the end of the year.”