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The Chennai-based drone start-up Garuda Aerospace is eyeing a revenue of ₹1,000 crore in this fiscal - over 20x growth over last year. For the fiscal 2022-23, the company reported revenue of ₹47 crore.
When asked how the company will achieve such a huge growth, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, says, “we are targeting to sell around 25,000 drones (mostly agri drones) with each costing around ₹4.5 lakh. We have the potential of reaching the ₹1,000 crore revenue target,” he told businessline.
The company has already pre-booked 7,000 drones. This is almost 30 per cent into that target within the first quarter of the year, he said. “We plan to do an equity infusion of around $25 million. If we do receive this, we can easily achieve the target,” he said.
Kisan drones
Garuda’s agri drones are bought by dealers and ‘pilots’ and supplied to farmers across the country. The Kisan/Agri drone weighs around 25 kg with a capacity to store 8 litres of spray. It has a flight time of up to 7 minutes and spraying flow of 2-2.5 litres/minutes. With an operating altitude of 49.21 ft, it can spray 1,500 to 2,500 sq m per minute.
The Kisan drone has already been tested on over 15 crore in toughest terrains and extreme weather conditions. Powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the drones save 90 per cent of water and pesticides, says a brochure on the drone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the drone yatra where 100 drones were flagged off simultaneously across 100 villages in India.
Founded in 2015 with a team of five, Garuda has scaled to a 200 member team having the largest drone fleet in India with over 400 drones and 500 pilots operating in 84 cities. It manufactures 30 types of drones and offers 50 types of services.
It has over 750 clients, including TATA, Godrej, Adani, Reliance, Swiggy, Flipkart, Delhivery, L&T, Survey of India, SAIL, NTPC, IOCL, Smart cities, Intel, Amazon, Wipro, IISC, MIT Boston and NHAI for various projects. It has also partnered with companies Lockheed Martin, Cognizant and Elbit Systems.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has invested in the company and is the Brand Ambassador. Garuda Aerospace has raised $22 million, the largest ever Series A funding in the drone sector, and is on the track to become India’s first-ever Drone Unicorn Startup by 2024, he said.
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