Aerodyne Group, a Malaysian drone services company, has picked Citigroup for a funding round ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO), according to people familiar with the matter.

The Cyberjaya-based startup had asked banks to submit pitches in recent months for a fundraising that could be done in stages, said the people, asking not to be identified as the process is private.

The company is looking to raise US$150 million to US$200 million and aims to make its first close in mid-year, ahead of an IPO in 2024 or 2025, founder Kamarul Muhamed told Nikkei Asia in February. Aerodyne will be a unicorn once its Series C round closes, he said.

Considerations are ongoing and details of the fundraising could change, the people said. A spokesperson for Aerodyne did not immediately respond to requests for comment on a public holiday in Malaysia, while a representative for Citigroup declined to comment.

Aerodyne is a drone-based enterprise solutions provider using artificial intelligence to enable large-scale data operations, analytics and process optimisation, according to its website. As of December 2021, the company managed more than 560,000 infrastructure assets and inspected over 380,000 km of power infrastructure across 35 countries.

The drone firm secured US$30 million in its Series B investment round in 2019, led by Intervest and Kejora Ventures, with participation from VentureTech, Gobi Partners and 500 Startups. BLOOMBERG

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