Drone delivery logistics firm, Skye Air Mobility, plans to ramp up its fleet to 120 from four over the next 12 to 15 months, as it looks at tapping growth opportunities in healthcare and diagnostics, e-commerce, hyperlocal and agri-commodity deliveries
Each drone is expected to cost the company Rs 12 lakh. It is looking at an investment of around Rs 15 crore in the segment.
Seed funding round
According to Co-Founder and CEO, Ankit Kumar, the company is already in talks to close its seed funding round of $1 million (Rs 8 crore approximately), with the funds primarily going towards fleet ramp-up. The Delhi-based company, which recently completed 1,000 flights in six months of operations, will also look at a further fund raise in another eight-nine months.
“We intend to look at 100,000 flights over the next 12–15 months. And, we are exploring tie-ups with some e-commerce players such as Dunzo and Flipkart, while deliveries in healthcare and diagnostic services, which include using drones to deliver blood samples, are some of the other areas we are bullish about. Opportunities in agri-commodity deliveries are also coming up,” he told presspersons on Tuesday.
The company operates in the mid-mile delivery segment (from a hub to a spoke). Its revenue model includes charges on trials (carried out by companies) and proof of concept experiments. This apart, it charges deliveries on a per kilometre basis.
Skye Air claims there have been no delivery failures on its part so far.