Business News Desk – This is the era of quick commerce. Delivery in 10 minutes. But sometimes the traffic is so much that you don’t even know when 10 minutes turn into an hour. So then what is the solution? Sky Air, a startup from Gurugram, is solving this problem. This startup is making deliveries through drones, which can deliver goods in just 5 minutes at a distance of 3-4 kilometers. This startup was started in 2019 by Ankit Kumar and Chandra Prakash. However, its drone started its first flight in September 2021. Currently the company is providing drone delivery service in 6 states. Let us tell you that the company’s drones can lift weights ranging from half a kilo to 50 kg. The company’s founder and CEO Ankit Kumar said that this company started with healthcare, but now the company is providing delivery services in e-commerce and quick commerce.
After studying as a mechanical engineer, Ankit started working in sales at Mahindra & Mahindra. He used to lead the North Eastern region. After some time, when he got bored with his work, he started working in a consulting firm that helped foreign companies come to India. After some time, he opened his own consulting firm focusing on renewable energy and started helping foreign companies come to India.
Vaccine delivered during covid
In 2019, when Ankit was associated with the Ministry of Civil Aviation through consulting, he saw that there was a gap in the market. People want things quickly, but traffic on the road is a big problem. In such a situation, he got the idea of drone delivery. It was also difficult to deliver medicines in rural areas. In such a situation, during Kovid, Sky Air’s drones helped the government a lot in delivering the Kovid vaccine and transporting samples from one place to another. The company connected 12-13 primary centers to district hospitals in Vikarabad, located about one and a half hours from Hyderabad, and did a trial run. In August 2021, the government changed the policy regarding drones, after which in September 2021, the company started providing services to private sector companies through drones. Ankit says that before the change in policy, about 28 forms had to be filled, which later came down to just 5. This helped the drone business and his startup started growing rapidly.
Now delivery in just 5 minutes!
Currently, the company has a team of about 180 people, who are ensuring delivery through drones. Ankit says that goods can be delivered in just 5 minutes up to a distance of 3-4 kilometers. Currently, the company is working in collaboration with DTDC, Bluedart, Ecom Express, Shiprocket and some e-commerce companies.
So who will pay for the delivery charges through drone?
This company is also working in collaboration with e-commerce and quick commerce companies. Now the question arises that if a company delivers goods through drones, will customers be charged extra delivery charges? Let us tell you here that this startup does not charge any fee from the customers, but charges e-commerce or quick commerce or logistics companies. The interesting thing is that these companies have to spend 10-15 percent less money in delivery through drones as compared to normal delivery. At the same time, the goods will not be delivered directly to the customers’ homes by drone, but a delivery person will deliver the goods to different flats from the pod installed in that area.
What are these pods and how do they work?
Anurag Pandey, Network and Planning Head of Sky Air, says that whenever someone orders some goods, his demand will go to the hub. Many pods are connected to that hub. The company has installed about 70 pods in Gurugram. After taking the order from the hub, the drone will fly to the pod and as soon as it reaches there, the lid on the pod will open automatically. After this, the drone will drop the package from the air into the pod with the help of a rope already attached and go back. That is, the drone does not need to land. After this, a delivery boy will take out the product from the pod and deliver it to people’s flat, which the company has named Sky Walker. Anurag says that this not only saves time, but also reduces carbon emissions and work can be done towards sustainability.
Pilots fly these drones
Drones do not fly just like that, but they are flown by some people, who are called pilots. These pilots track the entire process of delivering goods through drones. Former captain of Vistara and Flight Operation Head of Sky Air, Ishan Khullar, said that like commercial airlines, it has many things including GPS system, which makes tracking easy. On the question of the extra E in Sky Air, Ishan said that there is an island named Isle of Sky, which is known for the giants there. The company also wants to become big like that giant, hence there is an extra E in the name.
The company has two types of drones
The company currently has about 30 drones. One of these is the Star Liner drone, which can carry a load of 2-3 kg and travel up to 80 km. Medicines or healthcare items can be sent through this. The second is Skyship One, which is the company’s flagship product. The company made several upgrades in its communication and navigation and made it capable of delivery service. Although this drone works on 4G, but if the signal weakens, it immediately switches to radio frequency. This ensures that the drone never gets disconnected.
Software controls air traffic like airlines
The company has developed a software called UTM to monitor drones. This software works exactly like air traffic control. It is an unmanned traffic management system. All information is also shared with regulators through this software. One special thing about this drone is that it has a parachute. If for some reason the motor gets damaged or the drone gets damaged in the air, the parachute opens and there is no damage on the ground due to the drone. Along with this, the safety of the drone worth lakhs is also ensured.
4500 deliveries are being made every day
Currently, the company is making around 4500 deliveries every day. These deliveries are in healthcare, e-commerce and quick commerce. The company is making deliveries in 7-8 active areas. In terms of funding, the company has received the most support from Chiratae Ventures and Mound Judi Ventures. Apart from these, there are many other investors who are supporting this startup.
