Aerodyne strengthening technological capabilities and intensifying global expansion through key strategic partnerships

• Aerodyne Group (“Aerodyne”) welcomes North Summit Capital, Arc Ventures and Leave a Nest as key strategic partners and investors.
• This will power Aerodyne’s entry into key growth markets, namely China, India and Japan.
• The partnership with North Summit Capital will also contribute towards the deepening of Aerodyne’s technological capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), machine learning, cloud computing, as well as data technology and digital transformation (“DT^2”).

Aerodyne’s Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Kamarul A Muhamad elaborated, “We welcome our new investors, North Summit Capital, Arc Ventures and Leave A Nest to the Aerodyne family. We firmly believe that together, we will be able to make the next technological leap, and be well positioned to capitalise on the growth of China, India and Japan, whose combined 2030 GDP forecast stands at USD117.7 trillion.”

Dr. Wanli Min commented, “North Summit Capital is excited to co-lead Aerodyne’s Series B second round investment alongside other value-oriented strategic investors. We see great potential in Aerodyne’s large-scale data capture and analytics solutions to global critical infrastructure and related sectors. Hence, to supercharge its growth, we will help Aerodyne beef up its service efficiency by injecting DT (Data Technology) into product development.”

Arjun Aggarwal stated, “Arc Ventures recognizes the impressive journey Aerodyne has witnessed since its conception. We welcome the common goal to establish the world’s leading drone solutions provider. India is set to be the second largest world economy. It is our endeavor to capitalize on both the tremendous domestic market and the many critical cost advantages that India offers.”

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)’s CEO, Surina Shukri commended Aerodyne, a member of MDEC’s GAIN Programme, for being an exemplary homegrown tech firm that is capable of deploying state-of-the-art drone-based solutions across vast industrial sectors all over the world. “This latest expansion into China and India is a momentous achievement for not only the organisation but the nation as a whole,” lauded Surina.”

Today, the Malaysian-headquartered, five-year-old Aerodyne is ranked third globally by Drone Industry Insights in its 2019 Drone Service Provider Ranking. Aerodyne currently has a presence in 25 countries and delivers AI-driven, drone-based enterprise-integrated managed solutions to the Oil & Gas, Power, Telecoms, Renewables, Construction, Agriculture and Infrastructure industries.

Besides global expansion via strategic key partnerships, select M&As and data technology advancement, proceeds from the said Series B investment round will also be used to hire talent globally and continue to expand into Aerodyne’s key global markets such as Japan, US, Latin America, Europe and Middle East.

Aerodyne Group (www.aerodyne.co) is a world-leading provider of drone-based enterprise solutions, and a pioneer in the use of AI as an enabling technology for large-scale data capture and analytics. Ranked third globally by Drone Industry Insights under the Drone Services category, Aerodyne’s team of over 335 drone industry experts operates on an unprecedented level in the UAV services sector, having completed over 78,500 flight operations, inspected more than 285,500 assets and surveyed in excess of 75,000km of power infrastructure across 25 countries around the world.

Aerodyne was recently named Frost & Sullivan’s ‘Asia Pacific UAV Services Company of 2019’ and Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Malaysia’s Industry Excellence Gold Award 2019. Aerodyne is also a company under the Global Acceleration Innovation Network (‘GAIN’) programme under Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (‘MDEC’).

About North Summit Capital

North Summit Capital (www.northsummitcapital.com) is a technology-intrinsic fund seeking to advance technology for social good. With focus on socially critical industries of agriculture, manufacturing and healthcare, North Summit Capital foresees huge potential of productivity uplift from AI, cloud computing and DT^2.

Complementary to capital investment, North Summit Capital actively injects proven proprietary DT^2 solution to help portfolio company materialize that potential and enhance valuation. The fund received several hundred million USD from a renowned Middle-East investor upon incorporation in June 2019.

About Arc Ventures

Arc Ventures (www.arc.ventures), a venture capitalist firm headquartered in New Delhi India, aims to build and accelerate technology start-ups globally. Arc Ventures supports and incubates companies who through the use of technology, bring disruptive change to traditional practices.

About Leave a Nest

Leave a Nest (global.lne.st) is a science and technology knowledge manufacturing platform company founded in 2002 with the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”. Currently headquartered in Japan, Leave a Nest has been expanding globally with subsidiaries in Singapore, Malaysia, UK and America.

About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is the government agency under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia entrusted to lead Malaysia’s digital economy forward. Incorporated in 1996 to oversee the development of the MSC Malaysia initiative, today MDEC has evolved rapidly by prioritising and driving digital and tech innovation. MDEC’s primary mandate is to accelerate digitally-skilled Malaysian, digitally-powered businesses and digital investments in Malaysia. MDEC strives to develop an environment that fosters innovation, jobs, and investment through collaboration and advocacy with policymakers, regulatory agencies, businesses, and industry partners. MDEC’s focus is on creating an inclusive high-quality growth through the nationwide digitalisation initiative that is in line with the Government’ Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 and firmly establishing Malaysia as the Heart of Digital ASEAN.