Cipla and Skye Air Mobility Launches Drone-based Medical and Pharma Delivery Services in Himachal Pradesh

Commenced operations in flood-affected Himachal Pradesh.

Indian multinational pharmaceutical conglomerate, Cipla Limited (BSE: 500087; NSE: CIPLA EQ), has announced the launch of drone-powered deliveries for its critical medicines (cardiac, respiratory and other essential chronic therapies) for hospitals and pharmacies in Himachal Pradesh, India, in partnership with Skye Air Mobility, a Gurugram-based drone delivery tech company focused primarily on healthcare, e-commerce and food logistics.

The use of drones will support on-time delivery of Cipla’s medicines to chemists and clinics in remote areas, while minimizing risks such as delays, temperature excursions affecting cold chain products, and roadside accidents. Cipla is the first among large Indian pharma companies to adopt drone- based deliveries to facilitate expedited supply to stockists in remote areas.

In its inaugural phase, the company has successfully completed several drone deliveries in Himachal Pradesh covering approximately 50 kilometres distance in under 25 minutes. This has been vital amidst adverse and prevailing weather conditions that have impacted conventional transportation routes in the state.

Commenting on the milestone, Cipla’s Global Supply Chain Head, Swapn Malpani said, “Driven by our purpose of ‘Caring for Life’, we are leveraging technology to make healthcare more accessible and extend our circle of care to all our key stakeholders. As we accelerate our digital agenda across all functions, implementing drone-powered distribution enhances our supply chain resilience, strengthens connects with channel partners, helps us stay future ready and maintain reliable, prompt delivery of our trusted high-quality drugs to stockists and patients in the region."

In future, Cipla aims to scale the service through distribution to hospitals and expand market coverage to inaccessible and hilly terrains such as Uttarakhand and Northeast in India.

TSAW Drones To Initiate First-of-Its-Kind B2C Medicine Drone Delivery Service in Kolkata; Partners with Kanhaiya Life Care Medicine

The vision behind the collaboration is to provide swift and efficient delivery of medicines to patients at their doorsteps while also cutting down on the delays caused by road traffic

Drone tech startup TSAW Drones has announced a strategic partnership with Kanhaiya Life Care Medicine to initiate a first-of-its-kind B2C medicine drone delivery service in Kolkata. The vision behind the collaboration is to provide swift and efficient delivery of medicines to patients at their doorsteps while also cutting down on the delays caused by road traffic.

The Hind Motor warehouse of Kanhaiya Medical shall avail of the innovative service of drone-assisted parcel pickup to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted transportation process for their vital medical supplies to a diverse range of recipients, including local residents, law enforcement personnel, and loyal patrons. The said parcels shall be conveyed to the Howrah drone hub of TSAW Drones, whereupon the final leg of the journey shall be undertaken by TSAW’s skilled bikers, who shall ensure the seamless delivery of the parcels to their respective destinations.

TSAW Drones' Drone at Kanahaiya Life Care Medicine Event

Mr. Arpit Sharma, AVP of TSAW Drones, said “TSAW Drones is honored to join hands with Kanhaiya Life Care Medicine in introducing cutting-edge drone technology to the healthcare sector in Kolkata. Our pioneering business-to-consumer (B2C) medicine drone delivery service will herald a paradigm shift in the way medical supplies are transported to those requiring them, guaranteeing swifter, more streamlined, and more secure transportation. We are excited to be at the forefront of this innovative approach to healthcare delivery and look forward to improving the lives of many in the Kolkata community.”

“By leveraging TSAW Drones’ advanced logistics service with our profound proficiency in the field of pharmaceuticals, this tie-up is poised to transform the delivery landscape in the healthcare industry, providing customers with unparalleled access to essential medications and enhancing the overall quality of healthcare services in the region. The B2C medicine drone delivery service will initially be rolled out in handpicked areas of Kolkata, with plans to serve other locales in the near future. Buyers will be able to place orders through our website and tele caller facility and can expect delivery within minutes” said Mr. Satyajit Roy, Consultant, Kanhaiya Life Care Medicine. 

The inaugural event for medicine drone delivery service in Kolkata took place on April 18th, 2023. The event was held at Hind Motor – 208 Battala bye lane-2, near Ramakrishna Parisad Club, Hind Motor, Ward No—7, Kolkata 712233, and was witnessed by a large no. of attendees.

TSAW’s drone logistics arm DRONECO’s infrastructure has been instrumental in significantly curtailing the average delivery duration for medicine covering a road distance of 17.6 kilometers, which previously entailed an hour of travel time. With the drone-assisted transport covering a distance of 11 kilometers and completing the task within a mere 8 minutes, the startup has demonstrated its prowess in optimizing and streamlining logistical processes.

Drone Delivery Tech Company Skye Air Mobility Raises $1.7 Mn to Fuel its Growth, Led by Chiratae Ventures

Skye Air Mobility raises ~USD 1.7 million to fuel its growth, led by Chiratae Ventures

To scale its drone delivery operations

Skye Air Mobility, India’s leading drone delivery technology company, announced the completion of its Seed Round, of ~ USD 1.7 million, led by Chiratae Ventures. The round also saw participation from Lead Angels, O2 Angels, Agility Ventures, Lets Venture and several marquee investors including Rajeev Chitrabhanu, Ankit Nagori, Varun Alagh, Gautam Badalia, Ayush Lohia and others.

India is an attractive market for drone start-ups as the country is very progressive with respect to the integration of drones into everyday life. 2021 has been a promising year for UAVs as it created an optimistic environment with the introduction of new drone rules and PLI scheme. The Indian drone delivery industry potential stands at USD 18 Billion (in first and last mile segments) and further growing at an exceptional growth rate. 

Skye Air has witnessed phenomenal growth in the last few months with addition of numerous clients and partnership with State Governments to expand the business. The company is currently operating in 8 cities across the country and plans to expand to 16 cities in the next 24 months. 

The investment will be used with a focus on bringing greater efficiency to different verticals by allowing faster deliveries, reduction in carbon emission, reduced cost, and increased accessibility to locations that are difficult to reach by road or where there is no connectivity at all. Businesses across various industries have begun to see the benefits of incorporating drones into their operations, such as cost savings, time savings, and technological break throughs.

"This investment comes at a time when we are intensifying our efforts to expand our services and collaborations in the Indian market. We are convinced that the new funding will facilitate our team to open untouched channels, allowing us to bring drone delivery services to more customers in India and beyond. We also believe the investment, which is so far the largest in the delivery focused drone segment, is testament to the fact that Skye Air is leading the way of drone delivery technology in the country with its proprietary SaaS technology.

Mr. Ankit Kumar, CEO–Sky Air Mobility

It is also noteworthy to mention, At Skye Air, our core aim is to enable change, bring the much-needed disruption in the first & last mile logistics industry to move faster and more efficiently. Skye Air is proactively working in the healthcare, quick commerce and ecommerce verticals enabling solutions for faster and cost-effective deliveries, and with the new round of funding we aim to make drone delivery as a mainstream solution.” says Ankit Kumar, CEO, Skye Air Mobility. 

"We are excited to partner with Skye Air Mobility to disrupt the first & last mile logistics in an efficient and climate-friendly manner, beginning with the Healthcare domain and expanding into other sectors with its logistics and SaaS solutions” said Mandeep Julka, Vice President - Investments, Chiratae Ventures. 

Only a handful of companies in the much-hyped drone ecosystem actually have a robust scalable solution and necessary domain knowledge. We saw that Skye Air was exceptional on both these accounts, and which drove our investment decision said Sushanto Mitra, CEO & Founder, Lead Angels

O2 Angel Network, investment bankers backed a Deep-Tech focused angel network, identified Skye Air as a category creator within the drone ecosystem. We were impressed with team domain knowledge and experience. Thus, O2 Angel found Skye Air to be a perfect partner for its new age Angel investors with the visionary founders; said Rajesh Ranjan, Founder, O2 Angel Network.

“Drone delivery is increasingly gaining ground across logistics providers to tackle inefficiencies in last mile delivery and is expected to grow at more than 50% CAGR over the next six years. We believe Skye Air has a head start in the same and is poised to be a leader in the industry” said Dhianu Das, Founder, Agility Ventures.

About Skye Air:

Skye Air is the India’s leading drone delivery company with bases in Hyderabad and Gurgaon. The company is focused on streamlining drone deliveries as a mainstream logistics solution for healthcare, ecommerce, quick commerce, agri-commodity and other industries. Skye Air has completed over 2200+ BVLOS flight delivering over 720,000 packages of products covering an aerial distance of 11800+ Kms.

The company is marking its monopoly in 8 cities across India working with clients like Flipkart, Dunzo, Swiggy, Redcliffe Labs, Aster Healthcare, Blue Dart, Cure Foods and many others. The mission of the company is to enable faster, sustainable, cost-effective and efficient deliveries across verticals and bring in rightful impact to reduce TAT for its clients.

The company has also conducted World’s longest BVLOS medicine delivery flight with Flipkart Health of 104 kms between Baruipur and Medinipur in West Bengal delivering medicines reducing the delivery time by ~80% compared to conventional means.

Using its drone delivery technology, the company has penetrated various urban, semi- urban, and remote areas of the country.

We Founder Circle Leads SEED Round Worth $325K in Drone Logistic Startup, TSAW

The Round Saw Participation from An Array of Esteemed Investors including Kartik Hajela (Founder Log9 materials), Soonicorn Ventures and Others

We Founder Circle, a founder backing founder based early-stage start-up investor has led a SEED round worth USD 325K (INR 2.5 cr) in TSAW (Technology in Space and Aero Works), is a drone logistics service provider. The startup comes with a vision to recreate the logistics ecosystem by introducing a new and faster mode of transportation i.e., drones.

The round witnessed participation from an array of esteemed investors including – Kartik Hajela (Founder Log9 materials), Soonicorn Ventures, early stage startup accelerator Pedal Start and strategic investment by Zypp Electric. The brand was bootstrapped so far, and this is the first fundraise.

(L-R) Kishan and Rimanshu-TSAW Founders

TSAW is providing logistics services by creating an alternate mode of unmanned transportation and developing drone corridors which will expand throughout Indian geography. These services can be used by any client on a monthly subscription basis. To make this possible, TSAW has developed drones capable of carrying 5kg payload to a distance of 40kms and is working on drones with longer range and higher payload capacity to carry any kind of loads.

TSAW will exhaust a major part of the raised investment in team building and fuelling operations. The rest of the fund will be equally divided in marketing and R&D.

“We are working towards empowering the logistics chain with drone technology. Though a lot of attempts have been made at exploring the domain, however very few have been successful in precise execution. We are glad the investors put their faith in the model and the team. These funds would give us a push in establishing our services across multiple cities which is the immediate plan for us,” said Mr. Kishan Tiwari- Founder, TSAW.

"In order to democratise the tech explorations taking the leap of faith is important. TSAW is empowering a domain which has been in the air for long but not a lot of people have been able to unleash its complete potential. We are glad to have become a part of a greater mission and logistics revolution that TSAW is aiming to begin,” Mr. Gaurav VK Singhvi- Co-founder, We Founder Circle.

TSAW is targeting to start its services in three Tier 1 cities by the end of this financial year utilising these funds, and aims to reach each and every village in the next 5 years.

TSAW’s technology which is a combination of drone and automation software has evolved over last 5+ years, proving itself across multiple Indian terrains, and has performed 1800 delivery flights across India so far. TSAW is working with Zypp Electric to enable end-to-end last-mile deliveries anywhere within a city in 20 minutes. So far, TSAW has completed successful trials in Kolkata, Orissa, Indore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Madhurai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore with various clients. Soon TSAW will also be launching its dedicated corridors for clients in Himachal and Uttarakhand for transportation of medical supplies.

We Founder Circle is a founder backing founder community and early age startup investment platform. It offers capital to startups in the range of $50K - $150K to early-stage startups. WFC has become one of the fastest-growing angel networks with 33+ startup investments in 2021. WFC has facilitated funds worth $150 million across 33+ start-ups in 2021and and became the 2nd largest Angel Investor in the Country. The brand facilitates seed funding, business development, and global networking opportunities to start-ups as it believes early start-ups need support in other sectors also to attain stability and scalability.

About TSAW

Founded in 2019, by Kishan and Rimanshu, TSAW (Technology in Space and Aero Works) is a drone logistics service provider with a vision to recreate the logistics ecosystem by introducing a new and faster mode of transportation i.e., drones. 

The brand is headquartered in Gurugram. These services can be used by any client on a monthly subscription basis. To make this possible TSAW has developed drones capable of carrying 5Kg payload to a distance of 40Km and is working on drones with longer range and higher payload capacity to carry any kind of loads. All these drones are operated on lithium batteries with Zero Carbon Emission. 

All the drones are powered by TSAW’s propriety Drone Cloud Intelligence System (DCIS), a cloud-based autopilot, which performs jobs like automatic path planning, drone traffic deconfliction and predictive health management & recovery, hence reducing the downtime to approximately Zero mins between flights and providing better operational efficiency.

Drone To Deliver Package in India Soon As Delivery Firm Zypp Electric Partners with TSAW Drones

Marut 2.0 Drone [Image - www.tsaw.tech]

Soon, instead of the delivery boy, a flying-drone will deliver your parcel at home as last-mile delivery company Zypp Electric said that it is entering the drone delivery segment and for same the Gurgaon-based startup has partnered with TSAW Drones, a Drone R&D & manufacturing startup, also based out of Gurgaon. 

According to the company statement, Zip Electric will deploy around 200 drones in four cities in the first phase. These services are planned to be rolled out to all cities such as Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune where Zypp Electric is currently in operations.

All the deployed drones will be equipped with smart lockers which can be opened only through an OTP pin provided to the customer which will ensure the safety of the items at the time of delivery, said a LiveMint report.

The package will be handed over to the customer with the OTP in place. According to the company, all the drones deployed will be equipped with smart lockers that can be opened only through the OTP provided to the customer. This way, at the time of delivery, your product will reach only in the right hands.

The drone-delivery will be made of products like medical, food, grocery through electric scooters. Drones will make delivery easier even in places where road travel is difficult or impossible. Also, with the arrival of drones, the delivery time will also be reduced.

TSW Drones has a flagship base model called 'Maruthi 2.0', a compact small category hexa-rotor drone, that can carry 5 Kg payload with 40 Km range.

Akash Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, said in a media statement, that he wants to make delivery easy and smart across various locations. “The best part is that drones are flying electric vehicles and they are going to be added to our ground fleet of e-scooters. They will be able to move medical, food, grocery parcels over long distances, as well as delivery times. 1/10 will be left."

Founded in 2017, Zypp Electric is a Tech-Enabled EV-as-a-Service platform, that delivers groceries, medicines, food, e-commerce packages from point A to point B through their fully automated IoT and AI-enabled scooters which are low on maintenance and high on performance. 

On-Demand Drone Delivery Startup TechEagle Will Showcase India at Dubai Expo 2020 Under UP Govt’s Guidance

Dubai Expo is featuring 192 participating nations, of which TechEagle is representing India with its state-of-the-art on-demand drone delivery solutions to address urgent delivery needs in remote or hard-to-reach areas.

India’s leading on-demand drone delivery airline has recently announced its participation in the ongoing Dubai Expo 2020 - the first-ever World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.

Incepted in 2015, TechEagleis recognized as a pioneer and lead manufacturer of long-range, high speed, heavy payload delivery Drone solutions. The deep tech anticipates to introduce the world to its state-of-the-art on-demand drone delivery solution for providing better healthcare and e-commerce access to every corner of the world.

Commenting on the participation, Vikram Singh Meena, Founder & CEO of TechEagle said, “For the first time, Dubai Expo 2020 has focused on providing every participating country to have its own pavilion. It will help us with recognition in showcasing the future of drone delivery through world-class platforms with Made in India Technology.”

The expo is being held from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 with 192 participating nations from across the world. Considering the accelerated digital adoption, it is based on the theme ‘Connecting Minds and Creating the Future’ to inspire people through the sub-themes – sustainability, mobility and opportunity.

Being one of the most disruptive startups in the drone delivery space, the company envisions to be the largest on-demand drone logistics Airline for package delivery in minutes to save lives, time and money. Its participation in the expo will help the company in making the world familiar with its Made in India drones, backed by advanced technologies.

Besides this, it will enable the world to address every urgent delivery need via a safe, efficient and reliable drone logistics network. TechEagle will also get the chance to showcase their ideas in India Global Forum UAE, India Innovation Hub and Tie Global Summit- Dubai 2021 . Under UP Govt’s guidance, the startup will get the opportunity represent their business ideas to global investors.

Medicines From The Sky - India’s 1st Drone Medicine Delivery Project Launched at Vikarabad, Telangana

Marut Drone's HepiCopter the heavy dutry drone which can carry 16 kgs of weight upto 40kms seen air borne for the delivery og medicine to a remote location in Viakarabad Dist in Telangana

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister for Civil Aviation launches India’s first Drone Medicine Delivery project ‘Medicines From The Sky’ at Vikarabad, which is known as Telangana Ooty.

TS is the first Indian state to use drones to deliver critical medicine to remote locations: Vignesh Santhanam, India Lead, Aerospace and Drones, World Economic Forum

8 Consortium Partners shortlisted out of which three--- Marut Drones’ Hepicopter, Blue Darts’ Sky Air and Tech Eagles’ CurisFly turned up and demonstrated their capabilities

KT Rama Rao urged the Union Civil Aviation Minister to grant Permission to set up Aviation University at Begumpet Airport.

Drones will be the future of organ transport: Vikram Taploo, CEO, HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals).

When vaccines are transported in drones in near future, Telangana will be the first in Asia to do so: Vignesh Santhanam, India Lead, Aerospace and Drones, World Economic Forum.

Telangana is emerging as the state for Vibrant Drone Eco-systems: Ms Ramadevi Lanka, Director of Emerging Technologies, Govt of Telangana

Vikarabad/ Hyderabad, September 11, 2021.....Mr. Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Govt of India launches ‘Medicine From The Sky, Beyond-Visual-Line-Of-Sight’ at a function held at Vikarabad, 75 km away from Hyderabad in Telangana on Saturday.

Telangana's 'Medicines From The Sky' project can be a game-changer in using drones for healthcare. The project is the first of its kind in India. It is also a potential game-changer for using drones in the civilian sector in India.

It is an initiative of the Government of Telangana led by the Emerging Technologies Wing of the IT Department in partnership with World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog and Apollo Hospitals’ HealthNet Global.

The Consortia partners Marut Drones’ HepiCopter, Blue Dart’s Sky Air and Tech Eagle’s Cure Fly showcased their capabilities and demonstrated the same to the guests.

Out of the three drone companies, Marut Drones is a T-Hub incubated Startup.

Mr Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and Chief Innovator of Marut Drones seen with HepiCopter the heavy dutry drone which can carry 16 kgs of weight upto 40kms

Seen Vaccines box is loaded on to Marut Drone's Hepicopter, the heavy duty drone which can carry 16 kgs weight upto 40 kms.

 

BlueDart's Skye Air Drone

According to Ms Ramadevi Lanka, Director of Emerging Technologies, Govt of Telangana, eight startups were shortlisted but only three turned up. The eight shortlisted include Hepicopter Consortium lead by Marut Drones; Bluedart Med Express Consortium lead by Bluedart Express; Cursively Consortium lead by Tech Eagle Innovations; Airserve Consortium lead by AirServe; Dunzo Med Air Consortium lead by Dunzo; Flipkart Air Consortium lead by Flipkart Medisky Consortium lead by Sagar Defence; Redwing Consortium led by Redwing Labs.

Sabita Indra Reddy, Minister for Education and KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT Industries, MA & UD, Govt of Telangana, Shri Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Piyush Srivastava, Senior Eco. Advisor; Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary from Union Civil Aviation Ministry graced the launch.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Govt of India said the perception of India as a follower is now leading in drone technology and the same is demonstrated here in Telangana to the rest of the world. It is a historical movement for the Drone industry.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, KT Rama Rao, Sabitha Indira Reddy,Vignesh Santhanam,Vikram Taploo, Ranjit Nikhila, Anand

There are immense benefits. This project. Ten days back the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified liberalized Drone Rules, 2021. The Number of forms was reduced from 25 to 5 and the Types of fees reduced from 72 to 4. The Quantum of the fee was reduced to nominal levels and delinked with the size of the drone.

The digital sky platform shall be developed as a user-friendly single-window system.

There will be minimal human interface and most permissions will be self-generated, he said

Speaking further the Union Minister added that the Interactive airspace map with green, yellow and red zones shall be displayed on the digital sky platform very soon.

No permission is required for operating drones in green zones. Green zone means the airspace up to a vertical distance of 400 feet or 120 metres that has not been designated as a red zone or yellow zone in the airspace map; and the airspace up to a vertical distance of 200 feet or 60 metres above the area located between a lateral distance of 8 and 12 kilometres from the perimeter of an operational airport he said.

The Yellow zone is reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter. No remote pilot licence is required for micro drones (for non-commercial use) and nano drones, he added.

These three consortium partners will fly in 16 green zones. The data generated will be announced and shared, Mr Scindia informed.

Drone delivery of medicines will be the new model for the country, Mr Scindia added.

Any new technology must benefit common people. Otherwise, it will be a futile effort, says our Chief Minister, informed Mr KT Rama Rao while addressing the gathering. The three consortium partners whose drones are being operated today are technology start-ups in drone space. Telangana is a new state. We think like a startup and operate like a startup, he said.

He explained how Drones will benefit the common people especially people living in remote localities. The medicine for snakebite is normally not stored in PHCs(Primary Health Centres). With drone delivery, it is possible to quickly deliver it in a remote location, he informed the gathering.

Mr KT Rama Rao urged Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia to set up an Aviation University or Centre of Excellence at Begumpet Airport. We need a skilling centre there, he added.

The new Collectorate office at Vikarabad will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister very soon. We will finalize the dates, he told the gathering.

Sabita Indra Reddy expressed her happiness in choosing Vikarabad for the launch.

Vikram Taploo, CEO, Healthnet Global (Apollo Hospitals) said in the future Drones can be used to transport human organs much faster than before. It will be the future of organ transport. Drones successfully delivered human organs for transplant in the recent past elsewhere in the world. It could be a reality in India very soon, he said.

Vignesh Santhanam, India Lead, Aerospace and Drones, World Economic Forum spoke on the future of medicine from the sky project. Two sectors health care and Aviation are heavily regulated in the world. Now that drone regulations are liberalised, they paved the way for the project Medicines from the Sky. Telangana is the first state in the country to drone deliver medicine. When vaccines are transported, which will happen very soon, Telangana will be the first in Asia to do so, he informed. We will expand this experiment to 6 to 7 states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarati and other states, he added.

Ms Ramadevi Lanka, Director of Emerging Technologies, Govt of Telangana said it is the dream of the state government to see it (the state) for a vibrant drone ecosystem.

Member of Parliament, Chevella Dr Ranjit Reddy urged the Union Government to set up an Aviation University at Begumpet.

Ms Nikhila, Collector & District Magistrate Vikarabad District said Telangana now has a unique distinction of the first Indian state to have delivered medicine through Drones, an alternative transport system. And that too it is happening in Vikarabad, which is also known as Telangana Ooty.

Dr Suresh Munuswamy of the Indian Institute of Public Health, a healthcare partner for Marut Drones described drone delivery of medicine as Sky Bridge.

Marut Drone’s Hepicopter part of the Medicine From The Sky BVLOS operations is for a long-range of 40 km for medical delivery with heavy payloads of 16 kgs. These drones are equipped to handle multiple temperature-controlled boxes for safe, reliable medical supplies. This will enable medical delivery from Drones to penetrate the remote inaccessible areas. This will ensure timely delivery without worrying about the terrain, weather, traffic congestion. And it is also safe and environmentally friendly.

Marut Drone's HepiCopter the heavy dutry drone which can carry 16 kgs of weight upto 40kms seen air borne for the delivery og medicine to a remote location in Viakarabad Dist in Telangana

Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and Chief Innovator of Marut Drones said, their Drones are heavy-duty drones that can carry 16 kgs of weight. They can carry temperature-sensitive medicine. The operations of delivery of the Medicine From Sky project will commence from September 20 to 26th and the data will be analysed and studied for more efficacy. The drones are slightly modified to carry medicines, blood samples, diagnostic samples and COVID vaccines he shared.

According to him, each of their drones cost Rs 16 lakhs. They are assembled and designed by Marut Drones.

It is a great feeling to see that indigenously manufactured/made in India drones seen delivering made in India COVID vaccines. It is a proud moment for all of us at Marut Drones, Prem Kumar added.

All the drones are autonomous. They can control temperatures from 3 to 80 degrees.

According to Dr Suresh Munuswamy of the Indian Institute of Public Health, India has 30,000 PHCs and 2 lakh sub-centres. Telangana has 1000 PHCs. 5 to 10 percent of PHCs, i.e nearly 3000 PHCs that are inaccessible will get benefitted immensely through this system.

Drone Delivery Startup TechEagle Raises $500K in Funding Led by India Accelerator, Vinners group, Sitics Logistics and Others

TechEagle Team with AquilaX2

Leading Drone delivery startup -TechEagle raises $500K in a Seed Round led by India Accelerator, with participation from Vinners group, Sitics Logistics & other marquee angel investors

TechEagle, a leading drone delivery start-up has raised USD 500,000 in a seed round led by India Accelerator, with participation from Vinners Group, Sitics Logistics & other marquee angel investors.

TechEagle is deep tech (drone, AI) company that is currently based out of Gurgaon, and is building the end-to-end technology solution for enabling a drone logistics airline for last-mile & mid-mile deliveries. To make its vision a reality, TechEagle has already received approvals from the Government of India (MoCA) and the Regulators (DGCA) to conduct package delivery BVLOS (beyond the visual line of sight) flights in various parts of the country (India).

The company was founded in the hostel garage of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur by Vikram Singh Meena with a vision to solve super slow & expensive logistics problems in the last & mid mile segment using indigenous Drone & AI technology. He hails from a very small village in Rajasthan and understands the real pain point and gaps in the current healthcare and logistics system for rural and remote areas. Since childhood, he witnessed the trauma of losing many lives because of the non-availability of critical medicines in nearby clinics and hospitals or quick logistics services. Later in the journey, Anshu Abhishek joined the company and was promoted as Co-founder & COO.

TechEagle-Founders (Right - Vikram Singh Meena - CEO, Left - Anshu Abhishek - COO)

The Founder & CEO of TechEagle, Vikram Singh Meena says “Just alone in India, each year we lose millions of lives because of non-availability of critical healthcare items (blood, platelet, plasma, anti-venom, vaccines etc.) in remote, rural and semi-urban areas. Aerial routes are shorter in comparison to roads, and with no traffic jams in the sky, our drones are super-fast with reverse logistics capabilities, hence the delivery of packages would be four-times faster, twice as economical and 100% reliable. We plan to use the funding to further launch new indigenous products, scale our operations in India, and hire across functions. With TechEagle's on-demand Drone delivery Airline, the aim is to impact a billion lives by 2030.”

Mona Singh Co-Founder of IA stated "India Accelerator is elated to back TeachEagle, Our decision to accelerate and invest in TechEagle moves in the direction of helping companies build a global presence. We envisage that the year 2022 will be the year in which the hockey-stick upcurve in large scale usage of drones in India will happen, upon the strong foundation of the Drones Rules 2021. If the government has taken this bold move of notifying a liberal policy, then India will be the leader in this technology.''

Vinners (Value Investors Network) is a group of CXOs of India seeking investment and mentorship opportunities in dynamic, early-stage companies. Beyond financial support, the members often provide mentorship and help open doors for investee companies by leveraging their personal networks. As a network of individuals, they leverage their collective knowledge, connections and know-how to help these early-stage companies succeed. This would be Vinners’ 18th investment. 

Harvinderjit Bhatiya- CEO & Cofounder Radiowala and one of the founding members of Vinners( Value Investors Network) led this round from Vinner's side. According to him, "We saw the potential in the company and the founders. With the launch of Drone Rules 2021, the future of Tech Eagle looks promising. Also, the success of the pilot runs has accelerated the possibility of deploying beyond-line-of-sight drones for last-mile delivery of shipments in minimum time, to areas with improper road connectivity as well as faster deliveries in dense urban settings. We found these to be compelling reasons to invest in the company."

A.M. Sikander, CEO of Sitics Logistics says “We are delighted to invest in TechEagle. We believe drone delivery is the next big thing in the last mile delivery. Sitics with TechEagle will be the pioneer in drone-based deliveries internationally. As the traction for drone-based deliveries increases in India and around the world, Sitics will be one of the first movers in the Logistic Industry to adopt this technology. As a digitally enabled supply chain provider, Sitics sees the move into drone deliveries as path-breaking.” 

Indian Drone Delivery Startups Seeks Strategic Investors

Image for representation only

The segment expects a big boom post the Indian Govt New Drone Rules announcement

Bangalore, 13th August, 2021: The drone delivery market is heating up as the govt is likely to announce new drone rules around 15 August.

One of the front runner Drone delivery tech firm Skye Air has also chalk out a blueprint of its expansion in India. The firm is currently looking to further expand its wings and is in advance level talks with leading management consulting firm Alternative Global for strategic investments.

Headquartered in Bangalore, the drone delivery tech start-up Skye Air is founded by Chandra Prakash and Swapnik Jakkampudi in 2019 and has been at the forefront of various BVLOS trials, it has been carrying out BVLOS trials for healthcare deliveries in Telangana and Karnataka.

Confirming the news, Mr. Swapnik Jakkampudi, Co-Founder, Skye Air Mobility said -

It is true that Skye Air is in talks with multiple strategic investors including the leading drone consulting firm Alternative Global for fresh funding primarily for team expansion and product development. While it is very early at this stage to give more details, but we are looking forward to progress on our discussions with Alternative Global.

If all goes well, the partnership will combine the expertise to progress on our technology and develop a strong network for launching our solutions across India.”

The technology is ripe and the regulators are currently putting a very favourable and industry friendly framework in place, like the recent drone rules which are to be released on August 15th, to ensure that the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles can be exploited in compliance with the highest security and data protection standards.

The partnership with strategic investors is very important for these drone delivery start-ups which will prove to be beneficial as it will help them scale things faster.

Alternative Global India is a management consulting firm with offices in India, UK, USA and Israel. The firm focuses on helping businesses and Governments in the area of Drones and EVs and is presumably India’s largest drone consulting firm. Asper industry information AGI is also in talks with 2-3 more drone delivery start-ups besides Skye Air for strategic investment & partnerships.

AGI has a network of more than 70 companies globally in the drone space and more than 100 companies in the EV space and has been actively investing in Drone and EV start-ups.