The drone business is growing rapidly in India, as the government is now supporting this industry as this technology is being used for transportation and delivery of essential goods like medicines, supplies during disaster management, and even real-time monitoring of projects. Using drones, real-time information can be recorded. India currently has 130 startups in the drones sector and the government is encouraging new innovations and startups in this sector.
The Startup
One of the startups in this sector Skylark Drones is in the light. The startup as announced on July 05, 2021, has raised USD 3 million in its funding round. This round of funding was the pre-Series A round and was led by InfoEdge Ventures and IAN Fund. The other participants of the round were AdvantEdge Founders, Fowler Westrup, Redstart Labs, IKP, and Vimson Groups. The funding received is expected to be used in the expansion of offerings offered by the company and expansion of its operations into the international market. It will also use the funding in gathering insights from the drone data which will further help in taking business decisions and making strategies for the clients.
The startup was founded in 2014 by Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy and Mrinal Pai, Bangalore-based engineers. The startup is on a mission to unlock the economic potential of the skies. It is a Bengaluru-based startup that is engaged in building the core infrastructure for the global drone ecosystem. It is a proud host of 500 Fortune Companies where it empowers them with drone analytics, service providers with secure execution of flights, and manufacturers with regulatory airspace compliance. It is committed to solving the big enterprise problems, simplifying drone operations at a global scale, making drone flights safe and secure, and advancing the cause of the drone ecosystem.
It has wast range of customers from various industries like mining, infrastructure, renewable energy, and infrastructure, and notable names in this list are Balco, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel, Reliance Infrastructure, SAIL, URS, Bosch, Clean Max Solar, and many others. The startup claims to have over 20K autonomous flights, over 1 million images processed, and has more than 100 Enterprise clients. It is engaged in designing the shaping the skies of the future. Before this, the startup had received funding in a seed round that took place in 2018.
The startup has offices in the USA and India and has the aim to upscale productivity and safety by providing geospatial intelligence to different enterprises of various sectors. It also provides its clients with the ability to use technology which is powered by AI and products related to it like Spectra and Drone Mission Ops.
The co-founder and CEO of Skylark Drones Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy said that the vision of the startup is to unlock the potential of aerial intelligence. The company is thankful to all the investors of the round and it believes that the participation of a lead agricultural solution company Fowler Westrup and mining conglomerate Vimson Group will help strengthen the company and help in introducing the products which the startup has planned for its customers.
Amit Behl who is the partner of Info Edge Venture Fund said that there are very few companies working in this sector and this startup has full offerings. He believes that the company has a global opportunity and will reach great heights.
The global drone market is expected to reach USD 9961.6 million by 2027 and will be growing at a CAGR of 25.05% between 2020 and 2027. The industry is also expected to adopt new technologies like AI and ML.
The startup has the full potential to unlock many new global opportunities. We just wish the startup nothing but luck.
Edited by Tanish Sachdev
