Chris McCall's journey to co-founding Fotokite began in autonomous ocean robotics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In his eight years working within that field, he and his group of engineers needed to divide focus across multiple concurrent projects and felt the sense that his team rarely reached the full potential of any given project and that the development pace could improve significantly.

Seeking to focus on a single impact-oriented mission, Chris identified the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) space as an emerging field in 2013 with high growth potential. He relocated to Switzerland to tap into the cutting-edge research happening at ETH Zurich, where he met his founding team and helped to launch Fotokite: an autonomous tethered drone platform.

The initial vision was to create an accessible aerial camera platform with one guiding light: let’s make something so simple that anybody can use it. The concept was validated by building an autonomous flight platform capable of delivering value to early adopters took two full years before the product was ready to ship, and getting it into the hands of any potential users.

Breaking away from the status quo.  Most drones are untethered devices controlled by joysticks, they run out of power in 20-30 minutes, and they require high levels of training to operate safely in complex environments. Conversely, Fotokite opted for a fully self-flying tethered (wired) system. Their thesis is that many drone operators want a simple interface, more accountability, and better operational safety when operating UAS in populated areas and around crowds of people. To meet these demands, Fotokite uses an actively tethered drone with the added benefit of (i) sending power up the tether, (ii) relaying secure data and commands over that same tether and (iii) regulators were more open to classifying actively tethered drones as “safer-for-use” compared to the existing traditional drones available. 

Angels vs VCs? Fotokite’s experience of working with angels and VCs has been different on a case by case basis. The biggest difference for Chris has been driven by how actively the VC or Angel investor engaged by bringing new things to the table. Chris added that the ability of VCs to make key introductions across hiring, customer introductions, and partnerships have also shaped Fotokite significantly. 

International Fundraising. Chris’s experience raising financing from VCs in Europe, the US, and Japan exposed him to the investment approaches across several different teams and geographies. Risk aversion, even corrected for by company stage, is higher in Europe and Japan compared to the US according to Chris, recalling highly in depth and labour intensive due diligence processes even in early stage processes.

Fotokite sells their products to fire departments, police forces, transportation departments, security teams, and other public safety organisations. For several of Fotokite’s customers, their solution is used in parallel to traditional free-flying drones. For others, Fotokite is a fire or police department’s first entry into aerial robotics tools.

The making of a market. Fotokite had tested the commercial broadcasting, consumer drone, and industrial markets with some early wins but the company had not found a clear outlook to scaled success. With Chris promoted to Fotokite’s CEO at the beginning of 2016, Fotokite’s focus moved fully towards the First Responder and Public Safety market. 

Pricing a completely novel product is difficult - therefore, Chris took an iterative, feedback-led approach. They interviewed customers and analysed the costs of alternatives like helicopter operations or traditional drone programs for first responder teams. This allowed them to articulate a value-based pricing approach based on the potential cost-saving vs traditional methods. The Fotokite team could see how limited some of the military-oriented systems ended up getting adopted by First Responders, primarily because of their high price points. Conversely, consumer and prosumer drones were attractive based on their low prices but did not deliver on the capabilities and safety requirements needed in this market.

This approach allowed Fotokite to target a price point that public safety organisations could afford, unlike competitors who started in defence and tried to move downmarket. 

Selling in Europe vs the US. As a consolidated market from a regulatory, linguistic, and fiscal perspective, the US presented a more unified market compared to the public safety markets across Europe. In 2018, members of US Congress and the US’ Federal Aviation Authority were able to see Fotokite’s products in action and worked together to define a new category of drone in US federal law: the Actively Tethered UAS for Public Safety organizations. Using Fotokites was made easier in the US with this law, which allowed their use without Firefighters and first responder teams needing traditional drone pilot licenses or special permissions. The traction from US regulations and customers, according to Chris, helped open up and expedite developments in European markets once Fotokite began marketing and selling in both continents.

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In the early stages, Fotokite's hiring was heavily focused on product development. They recruited engineers with specific skill sets needed to build their complex autonomous drone system.

Many early hires came from graduate programs at nearby universities like ETH Zurich, UZH, and EPFL, providing a strong technical talent pipeline. As the company matured and clarified its mission around public safety applications, Chris saw a major shift in recruiting:

This mission-driven approach created a "feed-forward system" that allowed Fotokite to build an exceptional team motivated by both the technical challenges and real-world impact.

With their recent Series B1 funding, Fotokite is focused on scaling their impact. As Chris explained:

Key focus areas include:

If you are an investor or would like to work with Fotokite, get in touch at [email protected].

Open job listings are:

Technical Lead & Software Project Manager

Sales Manager DACH