Aerial mobility and drones
Drones for work, drones for logistics, and the airframes, payloads and batteries that India can build itself.
What we believe
Airframes are becoming commodities. The durable margin in unmanned systems sits in the payload, the battery, the flight controller and the software that plans the mission, and those are the layers India is only now beginning to make. Our first drone investment, Skylark Drones in 2021, was a data business: capture and analytics for mining and construction sites, sold as a service. Our recent ones, Paar Autonomy and Naveria Space, are payload and platform businesses aimed at the first buyer to move, which is defence.
Civil demand follows on a different clock. Agriculture, logistics and inspection all use the same components, so a supplier who qualifies for one buyer can sell to all of them.
What must happen next
- Component import substitution: flight controllers, gimbals and high-discharge batteries are the wedge, and Chinese-content restrictions are forcing it.
- Beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations at scale for logistics, which need navigation that does not depend on GPS.
- Certification capacity: DGCA type certification for civil aircraft and DGQA for military systems remain the binding constraints.
What we look for
- Payloads and sub-systems that sell to several platform makers rather than one.
- Dual-use companies whose industrial revenue survives a procurement delay.
- Batteries, motors and controllers with a BIS or defence qualification already in hand.
What we pass on
Capex-heavy platform OEMs competing on tenders against listed companies. Consumer drones. Anything whose only buyer is one government programme.
