Malaysia’s Aonic Raises $10M to Scale Agri-Drone Tech as Automation Race Accelerates

Kairous Capital leads Series A round as the Malaysian drone-tech firm looks to expand globally and modernise farming across Southeast Asia.

Aonic, a drone technology company founded in Malaysia and operating across Southeast Asia, has raised US$10 million in Series A funding to expand its agricultural drone ecosystem and grow its presence in global markets. Kairous Capital led the investment round. The regional private equity and venture capital firm is backed by Jelawang Capital, Malaysia’s national fund-of-funds, through its Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme.

The new capital will be used to expand Aonic’s regional footprint, strengthen research and development, and scale the production of drones, software platforms, and field services built in Malaysia. The investment comes at a time when automation technologies — particularly agricultural drones — are gaining traction across Southeast Asia, where labour shortages and rising costs are pushing farms and plantations to adopt digital tools.

Founded in 2016, Aonic has grown from a drone services provider into an end-to-end drone ecosystem company, offering hardware, software, training, financing, and operational support to farmers and enterprises. Its drones are widely used for crop spraying, plantation monitoring, mapping, and industrial inspections, helping businesses automate tasks that are traditionally labour-intensive or hazardous. 

The company focuses particularly on agriculture, a sector where automation remains limited despite increasing demand for efficiency. In Southeast Asia, agriculture still employs a large share of the workforce, yet farms often struggle with labour shortages and productivity challenges. Aonic’s drone solutions aim to address those problems by automating crop spraying and monitoring, enabling farmers to manage large fields more efficiently.

The productivity promise of agricultural drones

According to Aonic’s internal operational data across participating farms, its agricultural drones have delivered measurable improvements in farm productivity. The company reports that farmers using its drone-based spraying systems have experienced:

• Up to 50% increase in farmer income
• Around 54% improvement in farm output
• Approximately 75% reduction in water usage for spraying

These gains are largely driven by the ability of drones to perform precise and consistent crop spraying, reducing waste while improving coverage across plantations and farms. Drone-based agriculture has become increasingly popular in plantation crops such as oil palm, rice, and fruits, where manual spraying is both time-consuming and physically demanding.

Building an integrated drone ecosystem

Unlike many drone startups that focus purely on hardware, Aonic has built a fully integrated ecosystem around its technology. The company designs and manufactures its own drones while also developing proprietary software to manage operations and flight systems. This approach allows Aonic to control product performance, costs, and technology development internally. Beyond the drones themselves, Aonic has also created services designed to lower barriers to adoption for farmers, including:

• Drone pilot training programmes
• Flexible financing through Aonic Flex
• Agricultural input retail services
• On-ground technical support

The company currently operates more than 50 3S centres (Sales, Service and Spare Parts) across Southeast Asia, providing after-sales support for drone operators. This infrastructure has helped the company establish a strong presence in Malaysia and Thailand, where agricultural drones are increasingly used in large plantations.

Expansion plans beyond Southeast Asia

Aonic says it has recorded triple-digit compound annual growth since 2022, with annual revenue surpassing US$60 million. The company also reported profitability in 2023 — a relatively rare milestone among hardware-focused drone startups, which often struggle with high manufacturing and operational costs.

“Aonic is scaling a proven system,” said Cheong Jin Xi, Founder and CEO of Aonic. “We’ve spent years building the engineering, manufacturing, and operational foundations to support real-world, field-ready operations. This funding enables us to expand globally with the same level of consistency and reliability we’ve achieved in Southeast Asia.”

Today, Aonic’s drones are deployed in more than 15 countries, serving industries including agriculture, plantation management, inspection, and industrial services. As part of its next growth phase, the company plans to expand its global reseller and distributor network, enabling the export of Malaysian-built drone systems to international markets. The company is particularly interested in emerging markets where agriculture remains labour-intensive and automation adoption is still relatively low.

Investors see a rare Southeast Asian dronetech success story

Investors say Aonic represents a rare example of a Southeast Asian robotics company that has already proven its ability to scale commercially.

“We have been searching for transformative food and agri-technology for a long time, and Aonic is a rare Malaysia-based company that can deliver across Southeast Asia at scale,” said Adrian Hia, Partner at Kairous Capital.

“The team pairs deep technical capability with exceptional execution and financial discipline, bringing measurable outcomes for farmers.”

Hia added that the new funding will allow Aonic to expand its research and development capabilities and increase manufacturing capacity in Malaysia.

The bigger picture: Southeast Asia’s agri-drone race

Aonic’s funding highlights a broader shift in agriculture across Asia, where drones are increasingly used for precision farming, crop monitoring, and automated spraying.

The technology has already been adopted at scale in countries such as China and Japan. Chinese drone manufacturers like DJI and XAG have deployed thousands of agricultural drones across rice and grain farms, while Japan has long used unmanned aerial systems for crop spraying and field monitoring. These drones capture high-resolution aerial imagery, analyse crop health, and automate tasks such as fertiliser and pesticide application — enabling farmers to make more data-driven decisions while reducing labour and chemical use.

Southeast Asia is now emerging as the next major growth market for the technology. The region’s agricultural drone market is expanding rapidly as farmers adopt precision agriculture tools to improve productivity and address labour shortages. Countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia — home to vast palm oil, rice, and plantation sectors — are particularly strong candidates for drone adoption, as large-scale farms increasingly look for automation tools that can improve yields while lowering operational costs.

Quick Takeaways

• Funding secured: Malaysia-founded dronetech company Aonic has raised US$10 million in Series A funding to accelerate its growth and international expansion.
• Lead investor: The round was led by Kairous Capital, with backing linked to Jelawang Capital, Malaysia’s national fund-of-funds through its Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme.
• What Aonic does: The company develops end-to-end drone solutions, including hardware, software, training, and services for agriculture and industrial sectors.
• Focus on agriculture: Aonic’s drones are widely used for crop spraying and plantation management, helping farmers automate labour-intensive tasks.
• Strong growth: The company has reported triple-digit annual growth since 2022 and generates over US$60 million in annual revenue, while remaining profitable.
• Regional footprint: Aonic’s drone systems are already deployed in more than 15 countries, with strong adoption in Malaysia and Thailand.
• Market trend: The funding reflects rising investor interest in agri-drone technologies as farms across Asia adopt automation to improve productivity and address labour shortages.