Urbanmatrix Raises INR 1.2 Cr Funding The funds will be directed towards strengthening research and development, deepening market penetration, and delivering industry-oriented solutions across verticals

Urbanmatrix Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a drone technology startup founded in 2019 by three IIT Madras engineers, announced to have raised a funding of INR 1.2 crore. The key investment was made by Coimbatore-based SARA ELGI, part of ELGI conglomerate with an annual turnover of INR 2,500 crore, and seasoned businessman Laxminarayana.

The funds will be directed towards strengthening research and development, deepening market penetration, and delivering industry-oriented solutions across verticals.

SARA ELGI has a strong presence in more than 15 countries and will help UrbanMatrix with international expansion.

The world is witnessing drone technology disrupting almost every major industry. Taking advantage of 4G/5G, Artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing, today drones can do much more than taking photos and videos. Industries benefiting most from drones are Infrastructure, Security, Inspection, Agriculture, and Logistics. The drone market in India is in the early stages with immense growth potential. Currently, there are more than 50,000 commercial drones in India, which is minuscule compared to 17 Lakh drones operational in the US. If India wants to catch up to the US, then innovations and technological advancements are the only way out.

95 per cent of the drones present in India fall in the non-compliance category. As per the latest regulations, the use of such drones will attract heavy penalties levied by the government. This is a positive move not only for national security reasons but also for regulating the drone sector. In a short time span, the sector has shown encouraging outputs in checking illegal mining, digitally mapping the country, controlling locust attacks, and developing freight corridors by the Indian Railways.

"Drones are here to stay. The previous decade has witnessed the feasibility of commercial drones and this decade will witness the disruption in industries by these Drones. There is an unforeseen influx of funded drone startups globally, and the rush has just started. Our key reason behind funding Urban Matrix, is the technological solutions offered by them are way ahead of the existing competition. The founding team has phenomenal technology background along with a proven track record of building disruptive drone solutions," said Sumanth Ramamurthy, chairman, Elgi Group.

Urban Matrix Technologies Pvt. Ltd. specializes in micro drones and enables industries to easily leverage the power of aerial data by building compliant drone hardware, along with proprietary software solutions.

The founders spotted a gap between the available drone options and industry requirements, early in their careers. Taking photos and videos was not enough, industries require seamless integration of aerial data with their ongoing workflow in order to make real-time decisions that can significantly save time and cost. The startup addressed this by generating actionable data via a dedicated cloud-based platform: UMT Console. The processing of aerial data helps to predict the probable faults, assists planning, addresses the snags, and provides on-ground cost-effective execution, directly on the user's computer. The cloud-based platform further helps in monitoring the drone in real-time, even from a remote location. The flight data is saved on the cloud and provides real-time health monitoring of the drone. The drone uses proprietary software to plan and execute complex autonomous missions with features like one-click NPNT authorization, for getting flight approvals in just one click, the company shared.

"We are in the midst of exciting times. For a long, drone technology was limited to military applications. But now, commercial drones are rising with many industries adopting them aggressively. A time when drones will become an essential part of human civilization is much nearer than you have imagined. We at UrbanMatrix, are playing our part in spearheading this revolution by doing what we love – building future with technology," added Rishabh Verma, chief executive officer, UrbanMatrix Technologies.

Industries in technically advanced countries like the US, China, and Germany are benefiting multi-fold by leveraging drone technology. In India, the sector is still in its nascent stage, but judging by the numbers, the next 4 years will see an exponential jump in the number of operational drones. The legal framework is in place, but the need of the hour is to enable our industries to leverage the power of aerial data and compete globally, the company further said.