Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as drones, are aircraft without a pilot and are widely used in various military and commercial applications. The drone industry in India is currently experiencing a massive boost due to diverse initiatives taken by the Indian government. Muhammad Anas with a strong passion for drones, has trained over 2000 students across India through his first Drone edtech startup, Elight SPM and now as the Founder & CEO of India's first AI on-edge drone tech startup, Enord, he has developed the world’s most intelligent Drone named INSPECTOR, that can fly even in confined spaces while taking its own decisions without relying on GPS.

In an in depth interview with CEO Insights, Anas shares the underlying idea behind founding Enord and his overall journey, flagship offerings of the firm, and much more:

Give a brief account of your professional back ground and experiences.
"I have always been passionate about drone since childhood. I was in first year of college where I got a chance to be a part International Robo Wars at IIT Bombay which become the foundation for my Tech Society startup named Elight SPM, and incorporated as OPC Pvt Ltd in July 2019. Later, I got Zain Saeed to join the venture as a Co-Founder & COO. I met Dr. Babulal, Ex-Executive Director of BHEL, during one of our tech events at Thyagraj Stadium, and he joined us as a Senior Advisor.

During COVID-19, while we were thinking about new avenues and opportunities, we came across the massive number of fire accidents that are happening in India. We thought of resolving this issue through drones and started our research to figure out a way for the swarm of drones to enter a confined space and extinguish the fire. As we couldn’t find any patents or solutions on the same, we finally came up with our first patent, which ignites in the direction of ‘IP-based business’.

Regardless the hurdels we faced, finally created a pitch deck with the problem statement and took it to one of the incubation centers at IIIT Delhi as we were struggling with a place to sit and work. We also generated some revenue through various prototyping projects we took up during that time. After pitching it to IIT Mandi Catalyst, we were assured a minimal grant which got cancelled However, later we received another. Even with the minimal funds, we received massive support from people of IIITD Incubation Center, and other institutions helped us with ideation and POC development.

We incorporated Enord as Pvt Ltd in January 2021. Finally, secured incubation round of funding under the Cyber Physical System Scheme(CPS SSS) as convertible notes, which got converted in the followup round of Equity funding at a valuation of 10.5 crore back in March 2022 and are now raising $2 million in Pre Seed Round.

Define Enord as An Organization And Its Current Position In The Market.
Founded in 2021, Enord (semordnilap of the word drone) is India’s First AI on-edge Drone Tech

StartUp. At Enord, we are designing and developing drones that have an AI Pilot system for autonomous navigation which is capable of flying even in confined spaces and will ultimately create ease in operating, generating insights, and taking action that does not rely on GPS and use of a Magnetic compass.

Enord signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology IIIT Delhi to carry out joint research in the field of navigation of drones.

which three are patents, targeting industries and
government as a key differentiator of its business
model.

Product is all about Innovation & Application

Tell us about your flagship offerings and what value additions customers can expect from those.
Mentioning our flagship offering, we have come up with the world’s most intelligent Drone named INSPECTOR, ever build under seven kgs of weight and is capable of doing more than 200 TOPs on the edge. Inspector can store more than 1(one) TB of data and runs on state-of-the-art algorithms in an AI Pilot system. Once the goal is defined by the user, the AI-Pilot system enables the drone to take its own decisions during the mission.

Could you reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey so far? Going forward, what are the changes in the market behavior that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
Building a technology business that is heavily regulated and capital intensive can be a daunting task, especially when you come from a decent background with limited resources. Some of those major challenges have been identifying the right team members, securing funding, finding office space, and understanding compliance.

The Indian Drone industry is evolving rapidly. Following the vision of our Prime Minister to make India a drone global hub by 2030, we at Enord are developing an end-to-end ecosystem of autonomy (AI Drone) industry.

Muhammad Anas, Founder & CEO, Enord
An entrepreneur and inventor holding nine IPs, Muhammad Anas is the Founder & CEO of India's first AI on edge drone tech startup, Enord. He is an inspiring leader with a strong passion for building drones. He along with his team, also has trained over 2000 participants across India through his first Drone edtech startup, Elight SPM.

Hobbies:Poetry, Bringing innovations & processes, and Building drones
Favorite Cuisine:Simple light cuisine