Stockholm-based Wingbits bags €3.1 million to create flight tracking network

Wingbits, the Stockholm-based startup creating one of the world’s best flight tracking network, has announced a seed funding round of €3.1 million. The oversubscribed round which closed in June was led by two US VC firms –  Borderless Capital, a Miami-based Web3 VC firm and Tribe Capital, a $1.6B AUM fund that invests in category leaders across both traditional and web3 ventures. The round also included existing investor Antler, the most active early-stage VC in Europe, and a number of high profile angel investors. 

Wingbits is an innovative flight tracking network that shares revenue with its community by rewarding data providers through a blockchain-based, performance-driven model. The market size for flight tracking data is expected to reach $22 billion by 2025. This data is captured by antennas maintained by amateurs and enthusiasts around the world. However, traditionally this global community of amateurs have never been remunerated or rewarded for their efforts. 

Wingbits uses blockchain technology to reward the quality of the flight tracking data captured by these antennas. Individuals are rewarded based on performance, coverage and uptime and there are global leaderboards to compare the best performing antennas around the world. 

Robin Wingardh, co-founder of Wingbits, commented: “Despite over a decade of advancements in aviation tracking, innovation has stagnated, and the community powering this data has been overlooked. We founded Wingbits to change that—bringing fresh innovation to the industry while ensuring that the community is fairly rewarded for their invaluable contributions.”

At the end of 2023, 40 antennas were on the Wingbits platform. Less than a year later, there are 1,600 antennas as a result of word of mouth and the support of the global community. By motivating this network of amateurs, Wingbits now has one of the world’s largest and most reliable flight tracking datasets. With the increase in air travel and globalisation, this data can improve delays, optimise routes and drive efficiencies in aviation. 

Wingbits will use the funding to expand the team and product offering. Recruitment will be focused on the engineering team, which already includes developers and data scientists from the likes of Klarna, Spotify and Volvo. The funding will also be used to drive additional sales and marketing-related activities. 

Evan Park, Investor at Tribe Capital, added: “I believe Wingbits has one of the most unique supply-side userbases out there, composed of passionate hobbyists who contribute hardware because they love flight tracking – not solely for the financial incentives. This reflects in the strength of the Wingbits community, and the industry is only just realizing how powerful tapping into this 100k community of aviation hobbyists can be.”

Oscar Westergard, Partner at Antler, said: “Robin and Alex are a world-class founding team who have identified a truly unique application for blockchain technology. They are empowering an overlooked, but deeply engaged, community to create the world’s best flight tracking network. This will lead to real improvements across the global aviation industry. We are delighted to have backed Wingbits from day zero and have every confidence in their future success.”

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