Drone startup BeeX raises US$7.7 million Series A round from Monk's Hill Ventures, Seeds Capital

[SINGAPORE] Drone startup BeeX has raised a US$7.7 million Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures on Monday (Jun 29).

Other investors in the round include Seeds, NUS Technology Holdings, ShipsFocus and Octave Capital.

Seeds Capital is an arm of SG Growth Capital, the investment platform of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore, while NUS Technology Holdings is the National University of Singapore’s investment arm.

BeeX is a drone startup specialising in the underwater environment, with its autonomous drones able to carry out inspections that are cheaper than conventional methods. The inspections done by the drones follow regulations and can be done on a recurring basis.

The startup has deployed its drones across Asia-Pacific and Europe for offshore wind, oil and gas, subsea cables and coastal infrastructure managers.

Christine Giam, partner, SG Growth Capital, said: “Singapore’s maritime ecosystem and strengths in engineering provided a conducive testbed for BeeX to develop and deploy autonomous underwater vehicles to inspect, monitor and protect critical underwater infrastructure.”

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There are some defence applications for BeeX’s drones, with autonomous drones increasingly chosen to clear explosives and mines under water, and for security. Singapore’s Ministry of Defence has partnered the startup for national security applications.

Lim Kuo-Yi, co-founder and managing partner, Monk’s Hill Ventures, said: “The convergence of increasing offshore infrastructure asset integrity requirements and defence modernisation is creating a generational opportunity in underwater robotics that we believe BeeX is poised to capture.”

The funding will be used to expand BeeX’s fleet of autonomous underwater drones and its operational reach.

Grace Chia, co-founder and CEO of BeeX, said: “Our focus remains on delivering reliable autonomous capabilities that solve real operational challenges underwater. This funding allows us to expand our reach and build more technological capabilities, to meet the growing demand from customers across commercial and defence markets.”