Chennai-based Dare Ventures to invest in drone start-up

CHENNAI: Dare Ventures, the venture capital arm of Coromandel International Limited on Wednesday announced its third investment this year into a differentiated drone start-up, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Private Limited.

The company plans to use this funding for talent acquisition, R&D and production scale up.

However, the company did not disclose the quantum of investment to be made in the drone start-up.

Dhaksha, one of the forerunners in the drone space in India, provides a complete range of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) technology solutions for different applications covering agriculture, defence, surveillance and delivery, among others.

Based out of Chennai, the company has over the years developed expertise in drone R&D, testing, manufacturing, and customer support.

In addition to having developed capability to manufacture battery-operated drones, Dhaksha is the only company in India to manufacture petrol engine-based drones, as per a release.

It said the ‘Agrigator’ drone developed by Dhaksha targeting the agriculture industry, helps farmers with the application of fertilizers and crop protection products.

Agrigator comes with a 12L spray tank and can cover up to 30-35 acres per day with 8-hour usage.

The company’s petrol engine based defence drone ‘SwarmGator’ is a winner of the prestigious ‘Mehar Baba Swarm Drone Competition’ for drone architecture, organised by the IAF. In partnership with prestigious Anna University, Dhaksha won this competing against 154 companies.

Ramanathan Narayanan, Director-CEO of Dhaksha said, “This will help us in creating several milestones in the drone industry, deliver world-class drones, offer exceptional support to customers across India and make the company a frontrunner in realising the government’s vision of making India a ‘Global Hub’ for Drones.”