Petronas VC arm leads $30m round of Malaysian drone startup

Aerodyne, a Malaysia-based drone service provider, has raised US$30 million in a bridge round led by Petronas Ventures – the VC arm of the national petroleum company – with participation from the country’s civil servants retirement fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan.

Founded in 2014, Aerodyne helps companies with analytics, data operations, and process optimization through its drones. These can be used in sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, logistics, and security.

The company has also developed an air mobility solution that can ease logistics from shore to offshore platforms in oil and gas operations.

In a statement, Aerodyne said that it currently has more than 1,000 drone professionals. So far, it’s also managed over 560,000 infrastructure assets and surveyed over 380,000 kilometers of power networks in 35 countries. It counts Petronas as one of its clients.

According to the firm’s founder, Kamarul Muhamed, it has a plan to raise up to US$200 million “in the near future.” In an interview with Tech in Asia earlier this year, Muhamed said that the company is on track to go public in the next few years.

Aerodyne plans to use the fresh funding to support its expansion into Europe, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. It also aims to bring its drone solutions to the agriculture sectors of Indonesia and India.

Source: Tech in Asia