Delhivery gets closer to drone delivery with the acquisition of an American company

• Delhivery has decided to enter the drone technology space directly with the acquisition of US-based Transition Robotics Inc.
• California-based Transition Robotics is focused on building drone or Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) platforms.
• Delhivery is also working with the cargo division of airline firm Spicejet, SpiceXpress, to build drone delivery capability.

Logistics company Delhivery has decided to enter the drone technology space directly with the acquisition of US-based Transition Robotics Inc, ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for next year.

California-based Transition Robotics is focused on building drone or Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) platforms — including from hardware to software design to testing, validation, and manufacturing.

“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.

The development comes as Delhivery is preparing to start drone delivery trials in India. The company had signed an agreement with cargo division of airline firm Spicejet, SpiceXpress, earlier this year to build drone delivery capability in the country.

The two companies — SpiceXpress and Delhivery — have formed one of the consortiums shortlisted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct trials on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drones in India.

Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo, Flipkart and others will also be testing their drone capabilities in separate consortiums.

Transition Robotics is Delhivery’s third big acquisition this year. The company had previously acquired software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform Primaseller in March 2021 to strengthen its long-term vision of becoming an operating system for commerce in India.

It acquired Spoton Logistics five-months-later to strengthen its customer relationships and service quality, professional management and technology and engineering.

The decade-old logistics startup filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in November to raise ₹7,460 crore via the IPO.

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