MapmyIndia buys first tranche of stake in drone startup 'Indrones'

New Delhi: Homegrown navigation firm MapmyIndia on Monday said it has acquired 11.11 per cent strategic stake in drone startup Indrone for about Rs 3 crore.

With this deal, MapmyIndia and Indrones will jointly offer drones and drone-based solutions across all use cases, including surveying, mapping, inspections and real-time monitoring.

"This is further to our letter dated January 31, 2023 , wherein the Company had informed about acquisition of 20 per cent stake on fully diluted basis of M/s Indrones Solutions Private Limited in one or more tranches, we wish to inform you that the Company had completed one tranche of the said acquisition," MapMyIndia said in a regulatory filing.

The company has acquired 11.11 per cent stake for about Rs 3 crore in the first tranche, it added.

The board of MaymyIndia had approved acquisition of 20 per cent stake in Indrones for Rs 7 crore in January 31.

The companies will jointly target all verticals such as infrastructure, utilities, land records, agriculture, 3D and high-definition maps, tourism, metaverse, urban planning, disaster, law and order, and defence for providing solutions.

"Our strategic investment in Indrones is in-line with the vision of our Prime Minister's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and making India a drone hub by 2030. The Indrones team is highly experienced, and we are certain that together we would be able to be a leading player in the Indian and global drone industry.

"We are excited to work with Indrones strategically to further augment our solutions and offerings based on drones," MapmyIndia Chairman and Managing Director Rakesh Verma said.

Indrones specialises in manufacturing drones for a variety of use cases and providing drone-based end-to-end solutions for verticals like smart cities, government, construction, oil and gas, and agriculture.

Indrones has already been working with a reputed list of clientele across India in the ‘Drone as a Service’ (DaaS) model.

"Drones today are solving some of the most complex problems across industries like mining, construction, oil & gas, infrastructure, agriculture, etc, and Indrones is here to be a part of the digital transformation journey of its customers while leveraging indigenous software maps, geospatial software and IoT technologies developed by MapmyIndia," Indrones Founder and CEO Pravin Prajapati said.