Many a times, our mind urges us to build something that might bring a revolution. However, due to lack of resources or due to absence of that “external kick”, inventions take too late to happen. Similar thing happened with two college graduates, Rajan and Alim, pursuing nothing other than the very beloved course in India, Engineering! When in 2nd year, they planned to map the college. Unfortunately, shortage of funds did not let the plan execute completely. However, their dream couldn’t hold them back for long and they collaborated with a high hope and a new zeal. Their passion and urge to develop something interesting, combined with hard work resulted in the birth of Universal Products and Services Ltd (UPSL).
The startup is a blend of Drones and GIS (Geographic Information System). Alim Khan was an Aerospace Engineer and he was working on developing a drone. Rajan Srivastav, a GIS Engineer had ideas of merging drones and GIS together to produce something extremely helpful and fascinating at the same time. With services ranging from Aerial Photography to Industrial Inspection to GIS Mapping, UPSL is still in the phase of exploration. They are continuously exploring new domains where the integration of Drones and GIS can give productive outcomes.
When asked about why did they choose to work in this domain, Alim says, “The very fact that DORNE is still a new and challenging field, and people in India were not really exploiting this great combination of GIS and drone. That was something that hit us hard. And, both of us (Alim and Rajan) are bright eyed and bushy tailed. Me and my team aim to expand this platform and reach new heights against all odds.”
The core team comprises of 4 graduates. Mr Alim Khan is into developing and experimenting with drones since college days. Additionally, he has also designed a few fixed wings and rotary wings RC aircrafts. He participated at an event in NASA and went on to win the NASA System Engineer award. Rajan Srivastav is a GIS Engineer who has previously worked as GEO-Physicists in an MNC. Anirudh Sharma, also an Aerospace Engineer has been working from the beginning of UPSL. Pavan Pandey is an ECE Engineer with expertise in Robotics and embedded system.
Even now when they approached the investors in funding rounds, it was not quite rewarding. After a couple of failed attempts, Alim and Rajan were very optimist and confident this time. Alim texted the Vice chancellor of their college on Facebook directly showcasing the idea. Impressed by the idea, VC invited both Alim and Rajan for a meeting in Delhi. And fortunately, this time they had it in their court. Two months and a couple of meetings later, VC finally gave wings to the dream by agreeing to fund the project. On 10 July, 2015 the foundation of their project was laid and UPSL came into being.
Their biggest obstacle they faced and is still not conquered completely is the policies regarding drones in India. It was difficult for them to let the drones be used where they would produce significantly excellent results.
Besides all the challenges, UPSL has been doing extremely well in terms of business. With a revenue generation of 70+ lakh, they are working with more than 15+ MNCs including Azure power, Renew power, Herofuture and many more. They have also worked with a few government organizations like Lucknow Development Authority, NTPC, Uttarakhand power co-operation also.”
Clearly, there are companies that are working on drones. Like claimed by the team, UPSL has an edge on them as they are also providing solutions from drone education to drone based engineering services. UPSL has an Education Vertical (Drona-Acharaya Academy) which provide various training in schools and colleges. They have trained 300+ students via this academy.
Alim concludes, “UPSL plans to launch a different type of drone platform wherein any pilot will be able to use the platform to fly their drone autonomously.”
In case, you want to know about the training conducted by Drona- Acharaya Academy, navigate to their website! Drop a mail here for further clarifications!
Rashika Daga
