• Real Tech Fund’s expertise in agriculture deep tech, KOBASHI HOLDINGS’ legacy in agriculture of over 100 years, and ACSL’s technology prowess will provide an impetus to Aerodyne’s Agrimor solution, which is Aerodyne Group’s latest engine of growth in the agriculture space.• This strategic partnership also aims to solidify Aerodyne Group’s market positioning in Japan.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 10 May 2021 – Aerodyne Group, a top-tier global drone services company headquartered in Cyberjaya, Malaysia announced today that it has welcomed Real Tech Fund, KOBASHI HOLDINGS, and ACSL as strategic partners. Aerodyne Group is a DT3 (Drone Tech, Data Tech, and Digital Transformation) drone-based enterprise solutions provider, and a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence as an enabling technology for large-scale data operations, analytics and process optimization with a presence in 35 countries.
This strategic partnership with the consortium of Japanese investors comprisingReal Tech Fund, a deep tech-focused venture capital fund, KOBASHI HOLDINGS, one of the top agriculture companies in Japan and ACSL, a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange specializing in drone manufacturing and drone related hardware is set to propel Aerodyne’s latest engine of growth in the agriculture space called Agrimor in the ASEAN region. In addition, these companies with their depth of technology and agriculture experience and history in the Japanese market will underpin Aerodyne’s core business growth in Japan.
In South-East Asia, plantation agriculture such as rice, palm oil, and pineapple are major industries but farming methods are often labour-intensive and have high environmental impact. There is tremendous potential for improving efficiency and productivity and Aerodyne’s Agrimor service enables data-driven precision agriculture by using drones to monitor crop health and in turn increasing productivity and harvest yield, benefiting farmers, agriculture landowners and ultimately the economy of the host country. The company is currently running pilot projects with several of the largest farm landowners in Malaysia and plans to expand the service to India, Indonesia and Thailand after 2022.
Since its establishment in 2014, Aerodyne has been developing an integrated drone service solution that enables faster, competitively priced, higher quality, and safer infrastructure inspection and monitoring. Aerodyne’s solutions have been deployed and is currently being used by various industry leaders such as a Malaysian-based FORTUNE Global 500 oil and gas company, the largest listed power company in Southeast Asia as well as the largest port owner in the UK.
Kamarul A Muhamed, founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne said, “We welcome our new strategic partners and look forward to an exciting journey together. This strategic partnership with Real Tech Fund, KOBASHI HOLDINGS and ACSL will enable Aerodyne to leverage on a whole suite of expertise from this consortium to significantly enhance our value proposition in the agriculture space, solidify our foothold and unlock further opportunities in Japan, as well as expanding the breadth and depth of our technology suites. In particular, Real Tech Fund’s philosophy to support innovative R & D technology that advances humanity through technology mirrors our own approach.”
Akitaka Wilhelm Fujii, President of Real Tech Holdings, acting as the lead of the consortium of strategic partners said, “We are extremely excited to announce this new strategic partnership with Aerodyne. We believe that their drone solutions will hugely benefit society and the environment by providing people with access to affordable and resilient infrastructure, driving sustainable agriculture, reducinglast-mile delivery costs, and so forth. Through this partnership, we hope to boost
Aerodyne’s business growth and market positioning in Japan and beyond.”Shojiro Kobashi], President and CEO of KOBASHI HOLDINGS commented, “Weexpect that Aerodyne’s drone solution will greatly contribute to the widespread ofsustainable agriculture by improving the yield and quality of crops and reducingthe burden on the environment and farmers. With the resources we have cultivated as an agricultural machinery manufacturer, we will support Aerodyne’s entry into the agricultural field and Japanese market, lead the next future of Agritech, and contribute to the evolution of Japanese agriculture.”
Satoshi Washiya, President & COO of ACSL commented, “Aerodyne’s established position as a drone service provider is very attractive to ACSL. Since November 2020, Aerodyne and ACSL have been cooperating on drone flight tests through collaborating with Aerodyne Japan. Aerodyne is playing an important role in ACSL drone development. By further strengthening the collaboration between the two companies through this investment, we expect that the social implementation of drones will become even more advanced.”
About Aerodyne Group
Aerodyne Group (https://aerodyne.group) is a DT3 (Drone Tech, Data Tech, and Digital Transformation) drone-based enterprise solutions provider, and a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence as an enabling technology for large-scale data operations, analytics, and process optimization.
Aerodyne employs over 400 drone professionals to operate on an unprecedented levelin the UAS services sector, having managed more than 320,000 infrastructure assetswith 110,000 flight operations and surveyed over 120,000 km of power infrastructureacross 35 countries globally.
Aerodyne is ranked second in the world by Drone Industry Insights (DII) in its ‘DroneService Provider Ranking 2020’; was named Frost & Sullivan’s ‘Asia Pacific UAV Services Company of 2019’; and is a recipient of the Institute of Engineering andTechnology (IET) Malaysia’s ‘Industry Excellence Gold Award 2019’.
The company’s founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne Group, Kamarul A Muhamed, is‘EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020’, ‘EY Technology Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020Malaysia’ as well as ‘SEBA Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020’.
About Real Tech Holdings
Real Tech Holdings is a joint venture between euglena Co.,Ltd (https://www.euglena.jp/ ) and Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. ( https://lne.st/ ). It supportschangemakers who give their heart and soul to solve societal and environmentalchallenges. Real Tech Holding’s manages Real Tech Fund, Japan’s leading deep-techfocused venture capital fund.HP: https://www.realtech.holdings
About KOBASHI HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.
Based on the philosophy of “enriching the earth”, we are working to solve global issues by applying the knowledge and technology we have cultivated in agricultural and manufacturing fields for over 100 years. We support the social implementation oftechnologies that lead to the solution of social and environmental issues. We aim torealize a sustainable society by co-creating new value with start-up companies.
About Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Ltd. (ACSL) ACSL (https://www.acsl.co.jp/en/company) develops, manufacture, and commercializeindustrial drones in order to realize labor-saving and unmanned operations in theindustrial field. The core technology is in its proprietary autonomous control technology and industrial drones equipped with image processing and AI edge computing technology. Drones are already used in various fields such as infrastructure inspection, postal and logistics, and disaster prevention.
