MS Dhoni invests in drone startup Garuda Aerospace

Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has invested an undisclosed amount in the Chennai-based drone startup Garuda Aerospace. With this, Dhoni is joining the startup’s cap table as a stakeholder. 

Founded in 2015 by Jayaprakash, Garuda Aerospace is a drone-as-a-service (DaaS) startup. The startup designs, manufactures and customises drones for various use cases such as deliveries, disaster management and agricultural applications, among others.

Garuda Aerospace is engaged with government agencies like the Survey of India, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Indian Oil Corporation in long-term projects.

The Chennai-based firm deploys 300 drones and 500 pilots across 26 cities. Jayaprakash said the enterprise was on its way to become India's first-ever drone unicorn startup.

Garuda Aerospace is among the four drone startups that had been selected by online food delivery service Swiggy for a pilot project involving carrying out supply runs for its grocery service Instamart.

So far, Dhoni has invested in more than half a dozen startup which include HomeLane, Khatabook, Cars24, 7InkBrews, Copter7 and Run Adams.