MUMBAI: The Gautam Adani-led Adani Enterprises will buy 50% in General Aeronautics, a Bengaluru-based drone maker, for an undisclosed sum. M&A activity in the futuristic drone industry is on an upward curve. A day ago, RattanIndia Enterprises bought a 60% stake in Throttle Aerospace Systems, also based in Bengaluru and involved in the drone business. It had previously made an investment in Matternet, a US-based drone logistics platform.
Adani plans to leverage its military drone and artificial intelligence/machine learning capabilities and work with General Aeronautics to provide solutions to the agricultural sector. The company, which incubates new businesses for the Ahmedabad-based group — India’s third-largest conglomerate in terms of market cap has inked the deal in General Aeronautics through its 100% arm Adani Defence Systems and Technologies.
General Aeronautics, incorporated in 2016, was founded by Abhishek Burman, Kota Harinarayana and Anutosh Moitra, according to its website. In January 2021, it had closed a Rs 6.5-crore financing led by Mela Ventures. According to startup tracker Tracxn, the company had raised $2.2 million in total as of January 2021, attracting a valuation of $8.4 million.
In 2019, Reliance Industries had acquired majority control of Asteria, a full-stack drone technology company. Likewise, Tata Advanced Systems had acquired majority in Aurora Integrated Systems, a Bengaluru-based unmanned air systems manufacturer. Piramal Enterprises too had made an investment in an Israeli company Bluebird Aero Systems.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
