Malaysia’s Aerodyne secures $30M strategic investment bridging round led by Petronas

Malaysia-based drone service provider Aerodyne Group announced Monday that it had raised $30 million as part of its latest bridging round.

The firm said in a statement its long-time client Petronas, via its corporate venture capital arm Petronas Ventures, has led the funding round.

The round also included a follow-on investment by Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan (KWAP), who initially invested in the group back in 2020.

According to the statement, the funds will be used to support Aerodyne’s further expansion into European, African, Latin American and South Asian territories.

It will also be utilized as a strategic investment into technology acquisition to further deepen Aerodyne’s technology edge and launch Aerodyne’s entry into the advanced air mobility space.

Aerodyne’s flagship precision agriculture solution powered by in-house developed AI capabilities, with more than 300,000 secured effective hectarage for major industry players in Malaysia.

Part of the funds will also be utilised to support Aerodyne’s agriculture scaling up efforts and bringing this solution into Indonesia and India.

“We’re happy to have raised $30 million through this bridging round, which will allow us to scale even further globally, especially supported by our new technology developments,” said Kamarul A Muhamed, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Aerodyne.

“We also have plans to raise further capital in near future, amounting to $100 million to $200 million to bring Aerodyne Group to the next stage of its growth, which we are very excited about,” he added.

Founded in 2014, Aerodyne is a DT3 (drone tech, data tech, and digital transformation) drone-based enterprise solutions provider, and a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as an enabling technology for large-scale data operations, analytics and process optimisation with a presence in 35 countries.

According to the statement, a large scale commercialisation plan for Aerodyne’s advanced air mobility solution is also already underway.

This solution includes the use of heavy lifter drones, which can replace the more costly traditional methods and is well-suited for oil and gas operations such as shore-to-platform and platform-to-platform deliveries.

This also accelerates large logistic operations such as delivery of medical supplies in rural areas, and potentially in urban air mobility where fast and cost-effective mode of transportation can be provided in near future.

A Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) was signed on April 21 between Aerodyne Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of Aerodyne and Petronas’ technology commercialisation arm, Petronas Technology Ventures (PTVSB) to explore opportunities for deployment and commercialisation of drone-based solutions, as well as enabling remote and autonomous operations through the expansion of robotics and digitalisation.

“Aerodyne’s technology and solutions are aligned with Petronas Ventures’ investment focus in the space of Future of Facilities – and we strongly believe that this equity investment will strengthen our partnership further and unlock significant value for both Petronas and Aerodyne,” said Arni Laily Anwarrudin, Head of Petronas Ventures.

KWAP Chief Investment Officer Hazman Hilmi Sallahuddin said since KWAP first invested in Aerodyne back in 2020, the company has seen rapid progress, expanding its business from a primarily local operation to becoming the top drone services company in the world.

“This follow-on investment forms part of our mandate to provide growth capital for local companies to scale up globally. In addition, our aim to support Malaysia’s high-skill and high-value economic activities with positive spill over effects to the local economy are in line with Aerodyne’s objectives,” he added.

Malaysia’s drone tech hub ambition: Opportunities & Challenges [Part 1]