Auterion sets sights on growth in the Greater Zurich Area

January 07, 2019

Zurich – Three quarters of all drones worldwide fly with Auterion software. Although the startup has contacts in Silicon Valley, it has set its sights on growing at its location in the Greater Zurich Area where engineers are more affordable and cooperation with China is easier to pursue from neutral Switzerland, says the founders.

Auterion’s software called PX4 is used in drones from Amazon, the Chinese company JD.com and even DHL. Three quarters of all drones worldwide are based on PX4, according to an article in the Swiss business magazine Bilanz, though an exact figure is difficult to come up with, according to Lorenz Meier, co-founder of the Zurich-based startup.

Founded only around one year ago, Auterion has already outgrown two offices. The company currently has 30 employees, but it is set to grow to 50 in the near future. “We double our staff every six months,” Meier told Bilanz.

The potential for software such as that from Auterion is huge. Goldman Sachs estimates that the world market for drones and drones services will be over $100 billion in 2024. And Meier and his company want to exploit this potential: “We want to be in 90 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies,” Meier said. Co-founder Kevin Sartori is aiming for a “market share like Android has in smartphones”.

Although its first commercial product was only launched in September, Auterion already achieved seven-digital sales in 2018, according to the article. It has signed contracts with the Defense Innovation Unit, a funding organization of the U.S. defence ministry for open source technologies, Deutsche Telekom and PrecisionHawk, the largest drone operator in the U.S.

Meier worked previously for the drone manufacturer 3D Robotics in Silicon Valley, but despite good contacts with Silicon Valley, the two Auterion founders, who met at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, have deliberately chosen to operate from Zurich.

“This is where you have drone expertise and a talent pool. Plus the engineers are a good 40 per cent cheaper than on the U.S. West Coast,” Sartori said. It is also easier for Auterion to enter into contracts with customers in China from neutral Switzerland.