Oliver Zoeller originally comes from the Rhineland and went to school in Koblenz. At 16, he moved to the USA to a “very rural boarding school” in Pennsylvania. There he completed a high school diploma equivalent to the Abitur. He then returned to Germany, but to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg: “I did various internships there – including at Hapag-Lloyd – and got by on the side as a removal man or with catering jobs such as dishwasher, kitchen assistant, pizza chef or waiter,” he recalls. After all, he studied business administration at the Nordakademie with Europcar, focusing on electromobility and operations management. Parallel to his studies, Oliver pursued his fascination and taught himself how to build drones and 3D printers.

During a semester abroad from 2016 to 2017 in Shanghai, he often sat down in a garage with aerospace engineers and tinkered with them: “There was always an aircraft being designed, built, a test flight and finally taken apart again. And so on. I learned a lot in the process, but back then, as a businessman, that naturally frustrated me a lot because all this potential was simply taken apart again and disappeared,” he reports amused by the inspiring experience.

Various trade fairs in the field of “Unmanned Systems” and the first co-founder

During this time, Oliver also attended relevant trade fairs in Hong Kong and at events at New York University in Shanghai – where he then met Jerry Tang, his technical co-founder, at a lecture on controlling drones via mobile networks. For the founding of their drone start-up Beagle Systems, they also brought industrial engineer Mitja Wittersheim on board: “I studied with Mitja at the Nordakademie. He was a year above me and, as president of the student parliament, was already a multi-talented doer back then. After graduating, he joined a start-up, but wasn’t so happy with it because it wasn’t technical enough,” says Oliver. He noticed this and then recruited him for Beagle Systems: “We then traveled to various trade fairs in the field of ‘unmanned systems’ and found out what is always in demand – but not yet on the market – namely drones that are allowed to fly long distances within the European legal framework.” The start-up Beagle Systems is currently developing unmanned inspection and transport aircraft, produced using a 3D printer, which can legally fly up to 200 kilometers without visual contact with the pilot. This means that power line or track maintenance can now be carried out without the need for expensive helicopter rentals. However, the application also focuses on medical transportation from hospital to pathology.

At that time, legal advice was still needed for the foundation: the lawyer Amos Münch became a strategic partner. “We got to know Amos in Shanghai. He was interested in our project right from the start. We met again in Hamburg in 2019. Amos supports us in legal matters and has contributed a small angel investment,” reports Oliver.

A home for the project

Now they just had to decide where the start-up should be based. “Initially, we had China, Germany and Australia in mind for the location of the start-up. The lack of legal certainty spoke against China: There was almost no protection for intellectual property there, plus it was generally almost impossible to rely on contracts. Yes, there are of course fewer regulations there, but the government can say from one day to the next: you are no longer allowed to fly.” Although Australia offers extensive areas for test flights, there is a lack of market volume there. This is why the decision was made in favor of the Hanseatic city – although the legal requirements for drone operations are considerably higher here, the European single market provides a large, homogeneous playing field and a good legal framework.

Support for the project

Beagle Systems applied for EXIST funding at the end of 2018 so that the team could dedicate themselves to the project full-time without having to work part-time and Jerry Tang could move to Hamburg: “I came across EXIST online. As we lacked the necessary university connection and the Nordakademie does not support founders due to the dual system, we contacted Nils Neumann and beyourpilot  turned to me. I was then approached by Helmut Schmidt University during a lecture: They were enthusiastic about the project and took on the mentorship “, reports Oliver. The university network “beyourpilot“, which today operates under the brand “Startup Port” brand, has worked with the start-up consultant Dr. Andrea Otto fromf rom 2018 to 2022 supported the development, for example during the successful nine-month EXIST application process.

The team received InnoRampUp funding from the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank (IFB Hamburg) on August 1, 2019, which supports start-ups with grants of up to 150,000 euros in the start-up phase: “We started in a pigsty on a farm in Quickborn – thanks to the InnoRampUp funding, we were able to afford office and production space in Wandsbek,” explains Oliver. What’s the next stop? “It depends on how things go. If we have a customer, then we’ll prepare for series production. But we’ll have to separate the office and production, which I would regret. I appreciate the fact that everyone here can see what it’s all about. I’ve seen at many companies that the team often didn’t care about the product, that should never be the case here,” concludes Oliver confidently.

Essential ascent permission signals the feasibility of implementation

In May 2020, the startup received a general ascent permit for flights without visual contact in the state of Lower Saxony. This means that the team can now carry out commercial flights of up to 200 kilometers and a payload of 3 kilograms outside of cities. “This is a big step for us, as we were previously able to explain to investors and customers that we could offer such flights, but there was still understandable skepticism,” says Zoeller. For planned customer projects and both the current convertible loan and the upcoming (seed) financing round, Beagle Systems can thus demonstrate that its concept not only works technically, but can also be implemented in the strict legal environment in Germany.

https://www.beaglesystems.com/