Best Drones Companies in Japan
The 36 best Drones companies in Japan in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Terra Drone Corp.
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- IMARC Group
Our analysis of 50 Drones companies
$8.9b in tracked funding; 92% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Drones companies in Japan
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founder | Tech stack | Web popularity | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terra Drone Corp Provider of services for aerial imaging survey | $98M | 43 mo ago | 28 28 → 40 (+43%) | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+17 | Top 500k | 5 patents UAV remote sensing and precise pose estimation for aerial data acquisition. | — |
| 2 | Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory Conducts R&D on, and markets, drones and robotics-based technologies. | $25M | 33 mo ago | 53 | Kenzo Nonami CEO | Three.jsTDesignAmazon ALB+13 | Top 5M | 34 patents Autonomous UAV navigation, flight control, and onboard imaging systems | — |
| 3 | NileWorks Develops a drone for agricultural pesticide spraying purposes | $22M | 90 mo ago | 32 | Hiroshi Yanagishita CEO | PHPMathJaxYouTube+22 | Top 10M | 161 patents Precision agriculture data analytics and autonomous drone/industrial robotics control technologies | — |
| 4 | Aerial Lab Industries Developer of mobility solutions including robotics, AI, and drone technologies | $21M | 81 mo ago | 11 | Shohei Komatsu CEO & CTO | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | CLUE Provider of drone data management solutions | $19M | 68 mo ago | 50 | Ryosuke Abe Founder & CEO | — | — | 9 patents Autonomous drone control systems and advanced data processing for aerial vehicle operations | — |
| 6 | SkymatiX Provides drone-based services for enterprises | $11M | 54 mo ago | 20 | Zentaro Watanabe CEO & President | WordPressMySQLPHP+21 | Top 5M | 8 patents Geospatial data processing platforms and AI-driven diagnostic assistance tools | — |
| 7 | Metroweather Provider of drone-based atmospheric measurement equipment | $11M | 13 mo ago | 22 | Kuniaki Higashi CEO | WordPressApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+16 | Top 10M | 11 patents UAV flight‑path planning/control systems and Doppler‑based atmospheric sensing technologies | — |
| 8 | Sensyn Robotics Provider of drone hub, related control software, and inspection solutions | $11M | 74 mo ago | 121 | Takuya Kitamura CEO | HubSpot CMS HubApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+15 | Top 10M | 35 patents AI-driven data processing and sensor fusion for autonomous marine and aerial robotics | — |
| 9 | Liberaware Developer of drones for indoor industrial inspection | $9M | 37 mo ago | 15 | Hongkyu Min CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+21 | Top 5M | 13 patents Patents concentrated in transport & manufacturing processes | — |
| 10 | SORA Technology Developer of multi-utility drones and solutions | $7M | 8 mo ago | — | Yosuke Kaneko Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+11 | Top 10M | 3 patents Dynamic pricing platforms, wearable textile manufacturing, and smart garment sensor integration | — |
| 11 | Aster Manufacturer of electric motors for multiple categories of electric vehicles | $5M | 59 mo ago | 116 | Takenobu Hongo CEO | WixSentryBootstrap+10 | Top 10M | 96 patents Advanced coil and stator manufacturing for high-efficiency electric motors and related control electronics. | — |
| 12 | Aeronext Provider of next-generation drones based on intellectual property | $4M | 11 mo ago | — | Keisuke Toji CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+19 | Top 50M | 256 patents Advanced UAV/drone design, autonomous payload delivery, and integrated data processing systems. | — |
| 13 | Spiral Developer of autonomous flight control systems | $2M | 24 mo ago | 10 | Tomohiro Ishikawa Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+18 | Top 50M | 13 patents Patents concentrated in transport & manufacturing processes | — |
| 14 | Trajectory Provider of drone and AI based control system | $1M | 90 mo ago | 14 | Kenji Koseki CEO | — | — | 6 patents UAV route planning, autonomous navigation, and control system technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles. | — |
| 15 | TrueBizon Provider of drone based services | $231K | 86 mo ago | 10 | — | Cart FunctionalityWixSentry+21 | Top 50M | 9 patents Airspace traffic management platforms integrating data processing and usage promotion systems. | — |
Top 12 Drones companies in Japan
#1
Seed · Nagoya, Aichi · founded 2020$7.2Mraised▾
Developer of multi-utility drones and solutions. It offers a data analytics platform for UAVs and services such as disaster resistance and more.
- Dec 2025Seed$2.5M
- Apr 2025Seed—
- Mar 2025Seed$4.7M
- Mar 2025Conventional Debt—
#2
Series A · Uji, Kyoto · founded 2015 · 22 employees$11.1Mraised▾
Provider of drone-based atmospheric measurement equipment. It has developed a lidar that measures wind information in the sky and the ocean using remote sensing technology and signal processing technology. It helps users to understand, visualize, and control the wind conditions in the city and sky.
- Jul 2025Series A$5.7M
- Oct 2023Series A$1M
- Aug 2023Series A$2.5M
- Apr 2022Series A$5.6M
#3
Series A · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2017$4Mraised▾
Provider of next-generation drones based on intellectual property. It focuses on next-generation drones with solutions based on intellectual property and proprietary structural design technology.
- Sep 2025Series A—
- Nov 2024Series A$4M
- Nov 2024Venture Debt—
#4
Public · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2017 · 28 employees$98.2Mraised▾
Provider of services for aerial imaging survey. Its detailed product portfolio includes a software and hardware environment created using 4G LTE communication technology, an inertial measurement unit to calculate the orientation of the sensor, and photographic data processing software. It caters to need for thermal and visual inspection in multiple projects including offshore applications, FPSO applications, and thermal building inspections.
- Jan 2023Series B$14M
- Mar 2022Series B$70M
- Feb 2021Series A$14.2M
#5
Public · Chiba, Chiba · founded 2013 · 53 employees$25.1Mraised▾
Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory (ACSL), spun off from Chiba University, manufactures the MINISURVEYOR drone. ACSL specializes in flight techniques in non-GPS situations using SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping). Its software - X-Monitor and Y-Planner - are both used for running flights from ground stations and planning flight paths, while Z-Simulator is a training module for new pilots. The chief applications of MINISURVEYOR are in industrial inspection, agriculture, and construction and surveying. ACSL also offers pilot training services.
- Dec 2023Post IPO$9.3M
- Jan 2018Series B$18.8M
- Mar 2016Series A$6.3M
#6
Seed · Katsushika, Tokyo · founded 2016 · 10 employees$2Mraised▾
Developer of autonomous flight control systems. It offers total solutions from flight plan design to image analysis. It enables monitoring and inspection of indoor environments, such as construction and civil engineering sites.
- Sep 2024Seed$2M
#7
Public · Chiba, Chiba · founded 2017 · 15 employees$9.3Mraised▾
Developer of drones for indoor industrial inspection. It leverages self-position estimation technology which enables the use of drones in non-GPS environments and thus enables inspection of assets at remote areas.
- Aug 2023Series B$8.1M
- Apr 2019Series A$1.2M
#8
Series B · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2016 · 20 employees$11.3Mraised▾
SkymatiX provides drone-based services for enterprises. Services are offered in the areas of precision agriculture (leaf color analysis and pesticide spraying service), industrial inspection (inspection of steel towers and chimneys and remote facilities), and material management (using RFID tags). The proprietary drones used to offer services are quadcopter and hexacopter drones featuring an endurance of 13 to 30 min, and a max speed of up to 60 km/hr.
- Mar 2022Series B$11.3M
#9
Series B · Shinagawa, Tokyo · founded 2014 · 50 employees$19.3Mraised▾
CLUE provides a drone OS platform and drone data management solutions. It provides drone cloud, which is a data management cloud service for the drones that offers businesses a centralized management for projects & acquired data.
- Dec 2020Series B$19.3M
- Nov 2017Seed—
#10
Deadpooled · Minato City, Tokyo · founded 2016 · 11 employees$21.1Mraised▾
Developer of mobility solutions including robotics, AI, and drone technologies. The company focuses on creating advanced systems for various applications. These systems incorporate artificial intelligence for enhanced functionality. The company aims to provide innovative approaches within the mobility sector.
- Nov 2019Series B$21.1M
- Apr 2018Series A—
- Mar 2018Seed—
#11
Series A · Shibuya, Tokyo · founded 2015 · 32 employees$21.5Mraised▾
Develops a drone for agricultural pesticide spraying purposes. The company provides drone that can fly autonomously and use its mounted camera to scan the field and spray pesticide automatically.
- Mar 2019Series A$14.4M
- Oct 2017Series A$7.1M
#12
Series A · Tokyo, Tokyo · founded 2015 · 121 employees$10.9Mraised▾
Sensin Robotics provides drone hub, related control software, and inspection solutions. It provides aerial vehicle technology intended to use on drones and robots for helping enterprises and municipalities in inspection, disaster countermeasure, and security and surveillance. It offers a fully automated drone hub that integrates a drone aircraft, a base that supports automatic departure or arrival, and automatic charging. In addition, the company offers a platform that allows setting waypoints to automatically generate a flight plan for drones to follow and a communication service that helps users remotely share images captured by the drone at multiple bases, in real-time. Sensin Robotics also provides inspection services for photovoltaic power plants and towers.
- Jun 2020Conventional Debt—
- Jun 2020Series A—
- Jul 2018Series A$10.9M
- May 2016Seed—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Drones coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Drones & UAVs is moving in Japan
A read on the academic research around Drones & UAVs — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,305 Japan-affiliated papers.
- The University of Tokyo88
- Korea University75
- Ritsumeikan University55
- Tokyo Institute of Technology54
- Chiba University48
- Computer vision2→37
- Real-time computing1→23
- Robot1→22
- Remote sensing1→16
- Reinforcement learning1→14
- Aeronautics1→57
- Robot1→43
- Real-time computing1→38
- Remote sensing1→35
- Key (lock)1→16
- Aeronautics17
- Computer security11
- Key (lock)7
- Remote sensing7
- Software deployment5
Where drones uav is researched across Japan
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing drones uav patents in Japan
Japan drones uav patent filing is accelerating — 29,961 filings from 2,394 assignees (2016–2025), led by Toyota, Honda, Kubota KK; annual filings 1152→3189.
- Toyota4234
- Honda2883
- Kubota KK1316
- Mitsubishi Heavy IND1215
- Nissan Motor1015
- Komatsu MFG1006
- Denso986
- SONY Group884
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.