ODONATA receives startup funding from the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre ( ESA BIC ) Bavaria

The startup ODONATA has reached an important milestone in the realization of their vision – the funding of the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) Bavaria. The team’s declared goal is to revolutionize short-haul air freight  transport up to 1,000 km (540 NM) via CO2-neutral, vertical take-off and landing cargo and passenger drones, so-called eVTOLs – electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft.

With the ESA BIC network, ODONATA gains access to partners from a wide range of technical disciplines at the highest level. ESA has been supporting startups in Bavaria together with BayStMWi since 2009. Dozens of applicants faced the tough selection process this round, from which again only a small exclusive group of award winners emerged.

ODONATA convinced the jury with its CO2-neutral, flexible “heliplane” concept. The new aircraft is said to have a range of up to 1,000 km and a payload of up to 1,000 kg. It combines the advantages of a helicopter in terms of take-off and landing with those of a fixed-wing aircraft in terms of cruising comfort, cruising speed, glide, safety, range, payload and energy consumption.

Dennis Furchheim, Managing Director and one of the founders of ODONATA: “We are very pleased that the jury assessed our Heliplane concept so positively. Andre Klöckner, Dennis Furchheim, John Griesbacher. The funding by ESA and the Free State of Bavaria is a vote of confidence in our technical concept and an important signal for investors. The funding helps  us to push ahead with the next development steps and to collaborate with top-class experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).”