Aramco bets on drone business with $14 million investment

The mobility company has supported the Japanese provider Terra Drone to establish a new subsidiary to conduct studies on various unmanned aircraft projects in Saudi Arabia.

Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Aramco has invested $14 million into Japanese drone provider Terra Drone Corporation. The financing involves the establishment of a new subsidiary in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Terra Drone Arabia, to conduct drone survey, inspection and unmanned traffic management (UTM) across various projects.

This support is In line with the Saudi government’s “Vision 2030” reform plan, which seeks to stimulate economic transformation in the country by reducing its dependence on hydrocarbons.

With the creation of Terra Drone Arabia, the company hopes to accelerate the development of the drone industry in the Middle East. Terra drone, which currently operates in 10 countries across the world, will also provide oil-gas inspection services.

“Supported by the global track record of Terra Drone, our investment represents our commitment towards building the Movilidad Aérea Urbana (UAM) ecosystem in the Kingdom, one that circles around a sustainable economy. We foresee rapid adoption for UAM technology as an emerging tech vertical in the region, and Terra Drone is well-positioned to localize their innovation across the region, starting with the Kingdom,” stated Fahad Alidi, Managing Director at Wa’ed Ventures.

Drone deployment on a business level is still in an early stage of deployment, but its potential for the fuel retail and convenience store sectors has been studied and proved in recent years. Various Asian retailers are already deploying drone delivery services and some firms are even studying the possibility of service stations becoming charging and logistics hubs for this type of service.