Drone Startup FlytBase Raises Seed Round For Commercial Applications

Pune and Silicon Valley-based drone startup FlytBase, on Friday (December 20), announced that the company has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from US-based, early-stage venture capitalists and angel investors.

The company will be using the seed funds to mature their drone adoption from proof of concepts (PoCs) and pilots to fully autonomous, multi-site drone operations. FlytBase will further enhance its commercial drone automation software, where it will be focusing on building commercial use-cases such as warehouse inventory management, security and surveillance, wind turbine inspection and live remote drone operations among others.

Founded in 2017, FlytBase was founded by Nitin Gupta. The company has developed commercial drone solutions like FlytOS and FlytCloud software that enable intelligent automation of most major drone hardware platforms.

According to FlytBase, the commercial drone market continues to accelerate worldwide. FlytBase claims that it has been instrumental in helping IAG Cargo, a logistics and supply chain company which is part of British Airways, in developing fully autonomous drones-powered technology to manage warehouse inventory. In March 2019, the company won the global champion at NTT Data’s 2019 Open Innovation contest.

According to DataLabs by Inc42 “Drone Technology: Indian Opportunity Report 2019,” the total funding raised by drone startups in India from 2014 to 2018 was around $16.56 Mn, which accounts for a 2.26% of the total deeptech funding ($732 Mn).

The Drone Technology Market In India Is Buzzing  

The Indian civil aviation authority Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently approved the hyperlocal delivery platform Dunzo and drone manufacturer Throttle Aerospace Systems’ request to test autonomous drones in the country. Both the companies will start to conduct drone experiment early next year.

In another report, the government of Telangana in partnership with Apollo Hospitals and the World Economic Forum (WEF) has formalised the plan for a six-month pilot called ‘Medicines from the Sky,’ starting in 2020. Through this project, the government of Telangana is looking at ways to increase access to healthcare for communities across the state.

Globally, the drone market is expected to touch $21.47 Bn in 2021. However, in India, it is expected to be valued at $885.7 Mn during the same time frame.