AAA Terra Drone unearths series A

Terra Drone unearths series A

Japan-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) software developer Terra Drone received ¥1.51bn ($14.3m) in series A funding today from oil and gas supplier Inpex and financial services firm Nanto Bank.

The bank took part through its corporate venturing unit, Nanto CVC. The round also included debt supplied by multiple unnamed financial institutions.

Founded in 2016, Terra Drone provides commercial drone services including aerial inspections for infrastructure, thermal mapping and UAV data processing for various industries.

Details about Terra Drone’s earlier funding could not be ascertained. However, the company has participated in rounds for Unifly and Inkonova, which are drone technology providers based in Belgium and Sweden respectively.

The company also acquired a majority stake in UK-based peer Skeye in 2018, which involved the latter acting as its European headquarters.

Toshio Todoroki, general manager of Inpex technology division’s digitalisation unit, said: “Our business plan of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 announced on January 27 stated that we will develop new business fields and technologies through active collaboration with startups [and] this investment is in line with our goals.” (Translated from Japanese by Global Corporate Venturing)

By Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.