Page 57 - World Airnews Magazine February Edition 2021

NEWS DIGITAL

AEROBOTICS RECEIVES

INVESTMENT

minimise inputs and maximise production. on Aeroview, its web-based platform.
We look forward to further co-developing The platform then allows one to order a
Aerobotics has raised (US) $17 our products with the agricultural industry drone flight and the company will arrange
million in a Series B round with significant leaders.” a drone pilot to fly three times throughout
participation from Naspers, Platform Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, the season to track tree health and size,
Investment Partners, FMO: Entrepreneurial Aerobotics provides its customers with using multi-spectral, high-resolution drone
Development Bank and Cathay AfricInvest intelligent tools to feed the world. imagery.
Innovation. Using data collected, Aerobotic’s plat- With this data, a farmer identifies areas
The firm late last year announced it had forms brings security to farming and food needing attention from and then inspects
raised (US) $16.5M from FMO and Cathay security to the world, as global demand on these in the field using the Aeroview
AfricInvest to help it gain access to a large, the agricultural industry increases. InField mobile app. With the derived data,
international network of agribusinesses in Aerobotics has had success in its ability a farmer can now start making data-driven
emerging markets. Naspers is said to have to collect and analyse tree and fruit-level decisions on their farm, using the AI-based
invested (US) $5.6M in this round. information, which are critical to the analytics platform.
In May last year, Naspers announced it agricultural industry. The reporting tool consolidates all in-field
invested $5.5 million (R100 million) into It has seen support from commer- findings and alerts the user to areas where
Aerobotics, through Naspers Foundry, to cial-scale farmers and, more recently, crop action is needed.
help sustain food security in South Africa. insurance companies in the US who require The Series B investment will further tech-
James Paterson, CEO at Aerobotics said, accurate tree-level information about their nology development and product delivery
“Thank you to our customers for believing clients. in the United States and Aerobotics other
in our vision and to our investors for One of the building blocks of the core territories.
backing us. We’re committed to providing company’s success is the simplicity of the For more information: please visit https://
intelligent tools to optimise automation, platform. A user creates a free account www.aerobotics.com/ Q

World Airnews | February Extra 2021
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