Agriculture Drone Innovations: SUIND Secures Rs 20.5 Crore Funding

Agriculture drone startup SUIND has successfully secured Rs 20.5 crore ($2.2 million) in a seed funding round led by Transition VC, with additional backing from IIMA Ventures. Startup Superb recently reported this significant development. The newly acquired funds will facilitate the commercial rollout of its agriculture drone platform, enhance the development of its autonomous surveillance and infrastructure inspection drone, bolster its proprietary autonomy technology, and grow its engineering workforce.

Established in 2020 by Kunal Shrivastava and Kevin Kleber, SUIND focuses on developing autonomous unmanned aerial systems that utilise computer vision for navigation, rather than primarily depending on GPS. This innovative approach allows drones to function effectively in low-altitude and GPS-denied settings.

The startup has already introduced its DGCA-certified autonomous spraying drone known as Bumblebee, which has been deployed in various farms and plantations. Furthermore, they are in the process of developing WASP, an autonomous aerial platform intended for industrial monitoring, security, surveillance, and defence applications.

Looking ahead, SUIND aims to scale up the manufacturing and deployment of Bumblebee in the next 12 to 24 months while also preparing WASP for its commercial introduction. The agriculture drone landscape in India has been experiencing increased interest lately, primarily driven by the demand for precision farming and supportive government initiatives for drone usage. SUIND finds itself competing with other startups such as Marut Drones, Garuda Aerospace, IoTechWorld Avigation, BharatRohan, and Dhaksha Unmanned Systems.