• Pablo Air, a South Korean company specializing in drone-based logistics, has partnered with Malaysia’s National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) to assess the long-term feasibility of drone-based deliveries, aiming to expand its reach to Southeast Asia, starting from Malaysia.

• The company will launch drone-based delivery trials in collaboration with NTIS. It will also engage in developing its hardware, software, drone and operational technologies, assessing business solutions, identifying target markets, etc.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: This partnership is part of Pablo Air’s plans to scale operations globally for which the company raised USD 8 million in a pre-Series B funding round in July this year. The news comes on the heels of the company’s recent expansion to the US with drone-based delivery projects in New York (September 2021) and Arizona (August 2021) —its first international deployment. Its peer startups within our coverage have not yet tapped the Malaysian market, but California-based Zipline entered the Southeast Asian region through the Philippines in 2019.</ul>