More investors back Aerodyne amid expansion in China, India, Japan

Aerodyne Group, a Malaysian company providing drone-based enterprise solutions, announced additional strategic partnerships with Chinese VC firm North Summit Capital, India-based investment company Arc Ventures, and Japan’s Leave a Nest to help accelerate the startup’s expansion in China, India, and Japan.

Photo credit: Aerodyne

“We firmly believe that together, we will be able to make the next technological leap and be well-positioned to capitalize on the growth of China, India, and Japan, whose combined 2030 GDP forecast stands at U$117.7 trillion,” said Kamarul A Muhamad, founder and group CEO at Aerodyne.

In China, Aerodyne said the partnership with North Summit Capital will help it deepen its capabilities in AI, machine learning, cloud computing, data technology, and digital transformation.

Its partnership with Arc Ventures, meanwhile, will support the company’s growth requirements in India’s diverse market, which requires deep domain knowledge.

Leave a Nest, which connects startups, research institutes, and businesses, will also help strengthen Aerodyne’s position in Japan.

Last year, the company announced it raised US$30 million in a round co-led by Intervest, Kejora Ventures, and North Summit Capital. Other investors included VentureTech, Gobi Partners, and 500 Startups. The five-year-old company said it will use the funds to hire talent globally and continue to expand into global markets such as Japan, the US, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Founded in 2014, Aerodyne operates in the unmanned aerial vehicle services sector in 25 countries, using AI for large-scale data capture and analytics. To date, it says it has completed over 78,500 flight operations, inspected more than 285,500 assets, and surveyed above 75,000 km of power infrastructure.

Correction (February 6, 10:45 am): This article originally said that Aerodyne secured additional funding. The startup clarified that North Summit Capital, Arc Ventures, and Leave a Nest are part of the final batch of investors that joined its series B round last year.