Chennai-based Garuda Aerospace was founded by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, a Harvard Business School Alumnus in 2016. The startup is collaborating with the government to disinfect crowded places like markets, metro stations, airports, schools, colleges and government offices among others. Garuda Aerospace has been using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to disinfect the country. They have covered around 3.28 million square km across India in past few weeks.
Agnishwar explains that their Drone as a Service (DaaS) technology is more time efficient, accessible, faster than traditional methods and safe as there’s no human contact in infected areas. Their drones can reach up to 450 feet which not only means that they can cover 99% of Indian buildings but also disinfect areas which are not manually possible. The Corona Killer or CK 100 sanitization drone has patented autopilot technology, advanced flight controller system and is equipped with fuel efficient motors that help them to stay on ground for 12 hours. Each drone can cover 20 kms a day with payload capacity of 15-20 litres and flight duration of 40-45 minutes. They have a fleet of 300 CK100 drones which can cover around 6,000 kilometers a day.
The use of drones has always been in questioned because of the privacy and safety issues it comes with but the trend is gradually changing. Garuda Aerospace is one of the biggest drone manufacturers in the country and their journey began with Ignite India which focused on developing technology for social and economic change. They partnered with UN to establish themselves in 7500 schools across country. Agnishwar moved to producing a TV show called 7th sense to give kids space to think and come up with ideas.
The startup began with an investment of 1 crore in 2016 and has received a funding of Rs. 3.5 crores until now. The drones can range from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5 crores based on their use. The company has been working with multiple state governments and private companies for sanitation as well as other DaaS technology. Garuda Aerospace has been growing each day with orders pan India and they hope to have a global presence soon.