Garuda Aerospace
(Drone manufacturing)
Key People: Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder & CEO
Key investors: M.S. Dhoni, Venture Catalysts, WeFounderCircle
Funding: It has raised a total of $27.3 million over six rounds
What makes it cool: Captain Cool M.S. Dhoni is an investor and brand ambassador. Plus, its asset-light business model is creating job opportunities in rural and semi-urban areas
While serving with the UN, Agnishwar Jayaprakash was exposed to new technologies. That’s when the Harvard Business School alumnus got the idea of making smart drones for the agricultural sector, defence, and the Industry 4.0 consumer space. In 2015, Agnishwar, who had represented India in swimming for a decade and traveled to almost 40 countries, started Garuda Aerospace in Chennai. But the going wasn’t easy because of a lack of awareness and policy delays. In fact, the 33-year-old even contemplated shutting down his business by 2020. Then the pandemic struck, giving the drone industry a major boost. Agnishwar has not looked back since then. Today, big customers like Godrej, L&T, Reliance, Tatas, NTPC, and SAIL are on board. What’s even more impressive is that this start-up is already profitable and is now eyeing the public market. Per reports, in FY23, Garuda posted revenue of `46.8 crore and profit of `3.9 crore.
The start-up has developed a diverse portfolio, including a seed-dropping drone, industrial drones designed for cleaning solar panels, and loudspeaker drones for efficient public messaging, among others. There has also been a significant shift from an asset-heavy business to an asset-light model by offering drones as a service. “Our business model is a combination of Tesla and Uber. We manufacture drones and sell them to rural and urban entrepreneurs. We help these entrepreneurs, in turn, to offer their drones as a service to others who need it,” says the Founder and CEO.
The drone market in India is expected to grow to $8-10 billion in the next two to three years from $5-6 billion now. As Garuda Aerospace spreads its wings, it will face stiff competition from both domestic and global firms. How Agnishwar navigates these hurdles will be interesting to watch.