IPO-bound Delhivery acquires US-based drone firm Transition Robotics Inc

Logistics player Delhivery on Wednesday announced its foray into drone technology space with the acquisition of Transition Robotics Inc, a US-based company focused on building drone or Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) platforms. The Gurugram-headquartered firm said the acquisition will strengthen its capabilities in a wide range of applications, including aerial photography, remote sensing, inspection, and surveys.




The development comes as Delhivery gears up to start ‘delivery through drone’ service in India. The company had inked pacts with cargo division of airline firm Spicejet, SpiceXpress, earlier this year to build drone delivery capability in the country.

TRI brings a decade of deep experience with all aspects of small UAS — from hardware and software design to testing, validation, and manufacturing. It seeks to unlock new markets and applications for its customers and has a proven track record of shepherding innovative concepts to production, as per a Delhivery statement.

“While we continue to build our supply chain platform, we must look at the long-term developments poised to shape the industry. Bringing TRI [Transition Robotics Inc] onboard gives us a chance to get directly involved with core drone technology as regulations and use cases for drones are evolving in the country,” Kapil Bharati, chief technology officer at Delhivery, said.

Founded in 2011, Transition Robotics works on design, prototyping, testing and manufacturing of small drones, as well as software solutions. The company has also developed a drone for landing in constrained take-off and landing areas.

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TRI co-founder Jeff Gibboney said, “We are excited to join the Delhivery team and combine our experience in developing UAS solutions with Delhivery’s ability to quickly deploy and operate technology at scale. We believe our core technology and expertise is a great addition to Delhivery’s fully-integrated approach to logistics and are looking forward to being a part of its future.”