Indian Startup gets Funding for Agriculture Drones

Aaruha Technologies, the early-stage technology fund started last year by ex-Infosys CFOs Mohandas Pai and V Balakrishnan, as well as BV Naidu, the chairman of Sagitaur Ventures, officially announced its second investment today.

This time, it’s placed its bets on Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS), a startup that produces unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones.

The amount was undisclosed, but the press release did reveal that it was a bridge round. Bridge rounds are usually conducted between two different rounds of funding. Often, they happen because a startup wants a higher valuation before it raises its next one.

Startupxseed Ventures is the LLP investment manager that runs Aaruha. It explained that it’s invested in the startup because it aligns with the government’s initiative to focus on homegrown solutions that “make in India.”

Aaruha explains that it’s interested in AUS for three main reasons:

• It can help manage infrastructure better by surveying land
• Agricultural processes like irrigation, fertilization, and spraying pesticides can happen faster and more efficiently
• Data can be collected based on heat distribution to figure out whether power lines, solar power plans, and other large industries are working well

AUS’ site also claims that surveillance is another way to use its drones, although Aaruha makes no mention of that.

India is huge, which is why drones are an attractive – and terrifying – way to span the country.

CB Insights reported a 300 percent increase in drone startup funding around the world between 2014 and 2015. Seventy four drone startup deals were completed last year, for a total of US$450 million in equity money.

Last year, both Amazon and Flipkart announced they were thinking of using drones for deliveries in rural areas.

Skylark Drones is an Indian startup that makes drones but also provides end-to-end solutions to show enterprises what they can do with them. Skylark has even paired with the Bangalore police.

China-based DJI is a big player, but it focuses mostly on personal drones. It did launch its first drone specifically focused on agriculture in November 2015, however.

Founded in 2013 by Nikhil Upadhye, Suhas Banshiwala, Vipul Singh, and Yeshwanth Reddy, AUS’ drones focus on agriculture, mapping, and energy management.

It’s not a bad solution, but it does raise a few questions.

Many farmers in India are already getting left behind because they don’t have the money to afford new technology, which means that AUS’ drones will probably only be used by very large farms.

There are also plenty of drone manufacturers around the world, many of whom have focused for years on developing the perfect technology. DJI is valued at about US$8 billion.

In August, Aaruha made its first investment in bot blocker ShieldSquare.

Source: Tech in Asia