Aramco backs Japan drone start-up

The latest investment is a bridge round to help Terra set up a new subsidiary, Terra Drone Saudi, that will leverage the Saudi government's Vision 2030 plan.

A core tenet of Vision 2030 is to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on hydrocarbons, but Terra was selected based on its expertise in oil and gas industry services. This includes capacities in drone-mounted sandblasting, confined space inspections, and real-time pipeline surveillance.

Terra claims to be one of the largest drone services providers globally, with operations in 10 countries and know-how across aerial surveying, infrastructure inspection, and data analysis. The company says it can "bridge the gap between manned and unmanned aviation" with technologies such as a traffic management platform and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems.

SBI Investment, Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment, Kyushu Electric Power, Mitsui & Co, Tokyu Fudosan Holdings, Seika Corp, and Venture Labo Investment provided Series B funding in May last year. Venture Labo and Inpex, an oil company, contributed to a JPY 1.5bn round the prior year.

This is Aramco's first investment in an Asia start-up from its Wa'ed Ventures unit, which has been active since 2013. The oil giant also invests in Asian start-ups via Prosperity7 Ventures, which has recently aimed to invest outside the energy sector. Prosperity7's business is split about equally between the US and China. It made its first investment in Australia last month.

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• Topics
• MENA
• North Asia
• Expansion
• Technology
• Support services
• Industrials
• Japan
• energy