As industrial drone adoption grows, startups are finding bigger opportunities in infrastructure, inspections and field operations.
Updated
May 25, 2026 3:21 PM
An oil pump on a field. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
As drone adoption grows across industrial sectors, more startups are moving beyond hardware sales and into service-based business models. Instead of simply selling drones, companies are increasingly trying to build recurring revenue through inspection, mapping and infrastructure-monitoring services. That shift is shaping ZenaTech’s latest expansion strategy.
ZenaTech is a Vancouver-based startup that develops AI drone and Drone as a Service (DaaS) technologies. The company has signed an offer to acquire an Alberta-based land surveying and geomatics business operating across Western Canada. If completed, the deal would mark ZenaTech’s first land surveying acquisition in Canada and its first major push into the oil and gas sector.
The move gives the startup something more valuable than just another acquisition target. It provides direct access to an industry where drones are already becoming part of everyday operations.
The Alberta surveying company works with oil and gas producers across Alberta, Eastern British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Its services include land surveying, geomatics, mapping and environmental support for infrastructure and energy development projects.
According to ZenaTech, drones are already used in roughly 80 percent of the target company’s existing projects. That matters because it reduces the operational gap between traditional surveying work and AI-powered automation.
Rather than introducing drones into a completely manual workflow, ZenaTech is entering a business where drone-based data collection is already established. The startup says it plans to build on that foundation by integrating more AI-powered capabilities across surveying, mapping, inspections and infrastructure monitoring.
Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO of ZenaTech, said: "This proposed acquisition represents an important strategic expansion of our Drone as a Service business into Canada’s oil and gas sector, one of the most significant energy markets in North America. This company brings an established commercial customer base, strong regional expertise, and extensive experience supporting surveying and geomatics projects including for some large producers. We believe there is a significant opportunity to further enhance these services through AI-powered drone technology for surveying, mapping, inspections, and infrastructure monitoring applications, enabling us to establish a core expertise that we can bring to this fast-growing global industry."
The timing is also significant. ZenaTech pointed to estimates showing the global oil and gas drone inspection services market is currently valued at around US$ 2.3 billion and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 28.5 percent.
Much of that growth is being driven by energy companies looking for faster ways to inspect infrastructure, monitor remote sites and reduce manual field operations.
ZenaTech’s broader strategy centers around building a global DaaS network through acquisitions. Instead of creating local operations from scratch, the startup is acquiring existing service businesses with established customers and then layering drone automation and AI systems into those operations.
The company says its DaaS platform offers businesses and government clients subscription-based or on-demand drone services across areas such as inspections, surveying, maintenance, inventory management and precision agriculture.
The larger opportunity for startups in this space may not be drone manufacturing alone. Increasingly, the focus is shifting toward startups that can build scalable drone service networks and integrate them into industries that already rely on large-scale field operations. Oil and gas appear to be one of the next major targets for that expansion.
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Circles is using AI to turn telecom support from a cost centre into a faster, more personalised growth engine
Updated
May 19, 2026 5:44 PM
A woman holding a phone while using a laptop. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
Circles, a Singapore startup that builds software for digital telecom operators, has launched an AI concierge as part of its partnership with OpenAI. The release marks a new step in the company’s effort to modernise how telecom providers serve and retain customers. The move reflects a wider shift in the telecom sector. Many operators still rely on older support systems that can be slow, fragmented and costly to run. AI is now being tested as a way to improve service while creating new revenue opportunities.
Circles said the concierge is built on OpenAI’s API platform and sits within what it calls an AI-native telecom stack. In practical terms, the system is designed to handle customer support, account changes and personalised offers through automated interactions.
One part of the platform is called CareX. According to the company, it can deal with billing issues, service requests and network-related problems. Circles said CareX currently resolves 85% of customer queries globally without human intervention and reaches a 95% resolution rate on end-to-end tasks. That matters because customer support remains one of the larger operating costs for telecom providers. Faster automated handling could lower pressure on service teams while reducing wait times for users.
The second part of the platform is Xplore IQ, which focuses on revenue growth. The tool is designed to predict what a customer may need, recommend a suitable plan or offer and complete upgrades or downgrades automatically. Circles said the early rollout has led to a 22% rise in average revenue per user for Circles.Life Singapore. It also said personalised offers helped reduce customer churn by 9%.
"AI should empower users - not force-fit into outdated journeys. OpenAI's role has been critical in enabling Circles to scale this vision globally. With the AI concierge, we are moving beyond providing simple answers to delivering real-world outcomes, along with balancing cost and latency to maximize value for operators and customers alike", said Awais Malik, Global Chief Growth Officer at Circles.
"Circles is demonstrating how advanced AI can modernize essential industries like telecommunications at scale. By combining frontier models with multi-agent systems, they are enabling telecom operators globally to deliver faster, smarter and more personalized customer experiences. This milestone is a strong example of how AI can deliver tangible value for businesses and customers they serve", Oliver Jay, Managing Director, International for OpenAI, added.
Together, the tools are intended to connect customer service, operations and sales into one system. Rather than treating support and monetisation as separate functions, the company is combining them into a single digital layer.
Circles said the partnership will continue over the next two years as both companies work toward a more autonomous telecom model. Whether that vision is achieved remains to be seen, but the direction is clear: telecom operators are increasingly treating AI as core infrastructure rather than an optional add-on.