IIT Hyderabad to invest in 6 DeepTech startups working on Autonomous Navigation

The selected six startups are at idea and prototype stages this year and the areas of interest include Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, ROVs, etc.)

As part of the iTIC-TiHAN IITH incubation program, iTIC Incubator at IIT Hyderabad recently selected 6 startups from across India, working in the field of Autonomous Navigation to support them via pre-incubation and incubation support.

iTIC Incubator is investing up to Rs 25 lakh each in prototype-ready startups namely UAVIO Labs which is working on building sentient drones, Alog Tech building an autonomous indoor logistics ecosystem for warehousing, and Aviac who are working on Ecological Monitoring using drones. iTIC is also investing up to INR 10 Lakhs each in early-stage startups namely Rovonize who is building surveillance UAVs, Qotpars who are making the finest drones for video and photo applications, and Adiabetic who are working on the passive thermal cooling system for li-ion battery packs.

Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad & President of iTIC and TiHAN, while welcoming the startups and entrepreneurs said, “Technology Development and more importantly, its deployment has always been a focus of IIT Hyderabad. Through the incubation activities, we wish to provide the startups the right ecosystem for successful commercialization of these innovations."

Speaking on the TiHAN program, Prof Rajalakshmi, Project Director TiHAN said, “Through the TiHAN program, IIT Hyderabad focusing on building research capabilities in the domain of Autonomous Navigation, UAVs and ROVs. In addition to the startups, these facilities will also be available for researchers, industry at large."

“With these new additions, the Autonomous Navigation Entrepreneurial Community at iTIC becomes much more stronger and diverse. We are committed to support the creation of at least one unicorn in this domain in the next five years”, added Prof Suryakumar S, Faculty-in-charge, Incubation, Innovation, and Startup.

Other than investments the startups will be supported with structured mentorship, co-working space, access to maker lab, and access to IITH infrastructure. iTIC Incubator at IIT Hyderabad supports deep tech startups and is going to support more and more startups from the domain of Autonomous Navigation in the coming months.