Zomato Triggers Drone-Powered Food Delivery; Acquires Lucknow Based Drone Startup
Indian Govt. has just legalized drones; which means drones can be used for food delivery now.
After its launch in 2008, the Indian startup Zomato has come a long way to become one of the most popular online food delivery app nationwide. It started off in Delhi, soon gaining a foothold in multiple cities in India and has now spread its web internationally too.
They have tied up with more than 1.4 million restaurants throughout India, and serve over a 50 million users per month. They reached 21 million orders as of this September adding a feather in their cap.
Delivery through Drones: A New Beginning
Zomato has already acquired various startups that contribute to the boost in success of Zomato, some of which are Runnr, Tonguestun, MapleGraph, Sparse Labs and many more. Now, Zomato has taken a huge leap towards progress by joining hands with technology.
They have recently acquired TechEagle Innovations, a drone delivery startup. The Lucknow based startup works exclusively on drones and aims to deliver food through drones by designing a hub to hub delivery network enabled by hybrid multi-rotor drones.
TechEagle is a Lucknow based startup founded by Vikram Singh Meena in 2015 during his college days at IIT Kanpur. They specialise in designing custom made drones with a capability to carry up to 5 kg payload.
Food Delivery Via Drones: How Will It Work?
Zomato plans to bring about a groundbreaking change in the world of food delivery, “We are currently at the early stage of aerial innovations and are taking baby steps towards building a tomorrow wherein users can expect a drone to deliver the food they ordered online,” said Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato.
He went on to explain that the first ‘delivery job’ would be to design multi-rotor drones that can pick up a payload up to 5 kg and set up drone delivery circuits for reducing the last mile delivery leg.
Drone Delivery Is Now Legal!
While initially there was a ban on drones for the use of delivery of food and other goods, the ban has been lifted and the application of drones for such deliveries is recently legalized in India starting December 1, 2018.
Although delivery of pizza through drones is not exactly new, it has been executed previously in Mumbai as well, and by Amazon to deliver goods using drones during Diwali, but now Zomato will implement drones for delivery of food on a regular basis.
Delivery of food through drones is quite a futuristic movement by Zomato, and will definitely ensure intact condition of delicious food at delivery.
What is your opinion on the concept of food delivery via drones? Do share your opinions/feedback by commenting right here!
Awesome! :) Hope they execute it ASAP!