Drone startup Droni Tech pockets first funding cheque

Droni Tech, a Mumbai-based startup that offers drone hardware based on artificial intelligence, has raised $500,000 (Rs 3.54 crore) in its first seed funding from Eagle Group and angel investors, a statement said.

The funding comes just days after the central government announced norms to ensure drones do not pose a security threat. The rules will be effective from December. 

Investor Eagle Group owns Eagle Security and Personal Services (ESPS), a platform for providing manned security services in India. Incorporated in 1980 and with a client base of over 500 customers, ESPS offer services across the country with a network of 25 branches.

With the recent fundraising, Droni Tech plans to drive research and development in Mumbai and the United States (US) and aims to ramp up growth through sales and marketing, the statement said. 

“In 2018, we will focus our energies on a few priority markets like India, the US and Canada. In 2019, the company looks to expand beyond these markets globally,” said Onkar Bhosle, co-founder, Droni Tech (legal name: Drovation Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd).

Founded in March 2018 by Onkar Bhosle, Chirag Patel, Rohit Shirke and Anisha Bhosle, Droni Tech offers four AI-based drone hardware products for agriculture, medical emergency, food and supplies as well as surveillance. Onkar Bhosle earlier founded a Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) company, Customer360, which got acquired by Nasdaq-listed Interactive Intelligence in 2015. Onkar Bhosle, who has done masters in computer science from State University, New York, also co-founded another SAAS firm called Anveshan Technologies.

All drones of his current company Droni Tech are connected with proprietary sensor technology and come with management software developed by the company. Droni Tech’s indigenous software aims to assist corporates in managing, maintaining and monitoring their industrial drones through a single dashboard.

“Our vision is for drones to manage agriculture farms and other applications on their own, better than humans. Right now, each data point of flying drones is transmitted on dashboard in real time. In Phase-III of our product, we would enter the exciting phase of automated decision-making by the machine,” Onkar Bhosle said.

Deals in the space

Bengaluru-based drone maker Aarav Unmanned Systems in March raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round from GrowX Ventures, 500 Startups, and BellWether Advisors.

In 2017, drone operations management platform AirZaar raised $350,000 in seed funding led by New York-based venture capital firm Quake Capital.

In December last year, Delhi-based Meissa Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates drone startup WeDoSky, raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels Network.