KDDI : Aeronext, KDDI SmartDrone, and KDDI Collaboration for Societal Implementation of Drone Delivery

• Aeronext Inc.
• KDDI SmartDrone Inc.
• KDDI Corporation

September 22,2022

Aeronext Inc. (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Keisuke Toji, CEO; hereinafter "Aeronext") and KDDI SmartDrone Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masafumi Hirono, President & CEO; hereinafter "KDDI SmartDrone") entered into a business alliance agreement (hereinafter "the alliance") on September 20, 2022, for the societal implementation of drone delivery service.
In addition, KDDI Corporation (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Makoto Takahashi, President & CEO; hereinafter "KDDI") has invested in Aeronext (hereinafter "the investment") through the "KDDI Open Innovation Fund No. 3" (operated by: Global Brain Corporation), which aims to co-create new businesses with promising venture companies.

In recent years, the number of vulnerable consumers who have difficulty in making daily purchases, such as groceries, has been increasing throughout Japan due to the decline in the working-age population, aging society with fewer children, and depopulation. To help solve this problem, efforts to utilize drones and other digital technologies are promising.
Through the alliance, Aeronext and the KDDI Group will work together to expand drone logistics to municipalities nationwide by leveraging the technology and expertise of each company.

■Details of The Alliance between Aeronext and KDDI SmartDrone

Aeronext and the KDDI Group have previously collaborated, including conducting a drone delivery demonstration experiment [1] in Aga-machi, Niigata Prefecture in March 2022 and launching the "AirTruck Starter Pack" [4], a drone delivery package combining "AirTruck" [2] and "SmartDrone Tools" [3] in June 2022.
Starting with the alliance and the investment, we plan to further accelerate our efforts toward the social implementation of drone logistics services, including plans to collaborate in drone logistics demonstrations and implementation in more than 14 municipalities by March 2023.

■About Aeronext

Aeronext, an R&D-oriented technology startup for next-generation drones that engages in IP management, is a company with the mission of "designing the sky through technology" to create a world in which the sky becomes social infrastructure and economized to solve social issues with drones. Aeronext's core technology is 4D GRAVITY (R), a proprietary structural design technology that improves the basic performance of industrial drones in terms of stability, efficiency, and maneuverability by optimizing the aircraft's center of gravity. The company has a strong patent portfolio to incorporate 4D GRAVITY (R) into industrial drones as standard equipment, and is promoting a partnership-based platform business globally based on the 4D GRAVITY (R) license.

■Aeronext Initiatives

Aeronext is engaged in the development of SkyHub (R) [5], a new smart logistics service that integrates drone delivery and land transportation, with SEINO HOLDINGS CO., LTD., and, in November 2021, already started societal implementation of the service in Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture. In addition, Aeronext is actively promoting initiatives related to drone logistics, such as the joint development of "AirTruck," Japan's first mass-produced logistics drone dedicated to logistics, with Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Ltd.

<"AirTruck," a Japanese dedicated logistics drone>

■About KDDI SmartDrone

KDDI SmartDrone builds services that enable safe remote and long-distance flights by controlling drones using mobile communications such as 4G LTE. KDDI SmartDrone is working to create new businesses with drones and provide agile services that meet customer needs in various fields such as inspection, logistics, surveillance, agriculture, and surveying.

KDDI Open Innovation Fund is a corporate venture fund that broadly supports venture companies. KDDI Open Innovation Fund No. 3, which is currently active, has a total investment amount of approximately 20 billion yen and focuses on AI, IoT, data marketing, fintech, B2B SaaS, entertainment, and other fields.