Meet man, who saved his company from brink of bankruptcy and turned it into a 200000000000 business, he is…
Agnishwar Jayaprakash, who comes from Chennai, has achieved something truly remarkable that is an inspiration to many. He is the founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, a company that makes drones. In 2020, his startup was on the verge of shutting down. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, everything changed after Agnishwar used drones to sanitize government buildings and public places during the pandemic. This creative step gave his company both attention and work. The same company that was about to close soon became a Rs. 2,000 crore business. Let’s take a look at his journey.
His company almost closed in 2020
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Agnishwar was an international-level swimmer who represented India. Agnishwar holds 6 National Records which he created in 2012, Istanbul, Turkey at the World Short Course swimming Championships.
He started Garuda Aerospace four years before the pandemic. But by 2020, things weren’t going well, and he was thinking of shutting it down.
That was also when the COVID-19 crisis hit the world and brought economies to a standstill. Still, Agnishwar, who strongly believed in the power of “Garuda” (the vehicle of Lord Vishnu), didn’t give up.
While others were struggling, he saw a new opportunity, sanitizing buildings and public places using drones. He suggested this idea to the Tamil Nadu government, using his agriculture drones for the job.
Even though the idea didn’t immediately bring in official orders, it was widely covered in the media, giving his company much-needed visibility and recognition. That media exposure helped Garuda Aerospace bounce back stronger than ever.
Expansion was full of challenges
As time passed, Garuda Aerospace began receiving orders from different state governments to sanitize public buildings. But the journey was far from easy.
During the lockdown, getting travel permission for drone pilots to move between states was a big challenge. In fact, Air India had to airlift Garuda’s drones and pilots to cities like Chandigarh and Varanasi to ensure the work could be done on time.
As more smart cities and even MPs and MLAs began placing orders, Garuda started gaining nationwide recognition. Around the same time in 2020, another opportunity came their way, locust attacks in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The company’s agricultural drones were used to help tackle the crisis, proving how useful the technology could be.
These events opened up steady revenue opportunities for Garuda Aerospace, which until then was a bootstrapped startup trying to survive.
How Garuda took flight
Garuda Aerospace’s fortunes took a major turn when Elon Musk liked a tweet by Agnishwar Jayaprakash. That one small moment caught the attention of UK-based investor Silver Swan Investments, which led to the company getting its first funding of USD 1 million.
As people started to understand more ways to use drones, new orders came in, from the Survey of India for mapping, and from companies to detect faults in wind turbines.
From being almost bankrupt in early 2020, Garuda grew rapidly and reached a turnover of Rs. 15 crore by 2021–22.
Around this time, the central government also began supporting the drone sector. It made policies easier and even simplified financing for buying agricultural drones.
Garuda went on to form partnerships with big global names like Lockheed Martin, Canada CDL Systems, Elbit Systems, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
A major boost came when MS Dhoni, one of India’s most loved cricketers, joined as both the brand ambassador and a co-investor. This made Garuda extremely popular, especially in rural India, and helped the company soar to new heights.
Started getting support from all sides
In the financial year 2022–23, Garuda Aerospace raised nearly Rs. 20 crore from investors, which took the company’s valuation to Rs. 800 crore. That year, the company closed with a turnover of Rs. 47 crore. In the very next year, this figure jumped to Rs. 110 crore.
Agnishwar Jayaprakash chose not to join his father’s established business, but to carve out his own path. He built a company that today is worth more than his father’s 25-year-old business group.