HYDERABAD: DEFENCE
In 2025, defence will see increased focus on indigenisation, with many MSMEs and startups sprouting in the dual-use drone space (both civilian and military use). For instance, Big Bang Boom is currently building anti-drone solutions — these can detect and neutralise drones which unfriendly neighbours may send.
Another startup, Aero Arch, is building robotic multi-utility legged equipment which is suitable for challenging terrains. Parishodhana is doing great work with particulate materials to develop air-activated warming platforms for our soldiers in icy locations.
Many defence startups are also doing interesting work in cybersecurity and AI. Let’s face it — wars are going to be fought not just on land, sea, and air but also in the cyberworld. However, defence startups struggle to get funding, regulatory approvals, and the correct advise to forge ahead in the right direction. But high-quality educational educations like IIIT, IIT, and BITS are fostering a great environment for them. So, looking ahead, Hyderabad has a significant opportunity to become a big defence player.
Looking ahead
Look at the way technology has evolved in the last 50 years - as you walk on the street, you see people buried in their phones and donning fashionable airpods, while TVs are getting as thin as a translucent butter paper. Everywhere you look, you are stunned by the sheer magnitude of innovation, with versions and updates galore - truly, it seems like the best time to be living on this planet. But the question is, what are the sectors that will make waves in Hyderabad’s technosystem in 2025?
Srinivas Rao Mahankali — former T-Hub CEO, adjunct professor at IIM-Raipur, and advisor at Abyrocapital.com — decodes defence, aerospace, and sustainability. Trivikram Kumar, founder of agritech company XMachines, a T-Hub startup which recently secured funding in Shark Tank Season 3, gives his two cents on agritech. Akhil Kondepudi, CEO of K12, gives us the edtech picture.
SUSTAINABILITY
In 2025, people are getting a lot more aware about the planet. Good sustainability startups are coming up with innovative solutions — Cygni Energy is building solar solutions called microgrids for rural electrification. Banyan Nation, a top player in India’s FMCG bottle-to-bottle recycling industry, has recycled around two billion bottles so far.
This year, they are aiming for around 50,000 tonnes, higher than any other year. In 2025, the focus areas for sustainability startups will be waste management and recycling, solar energy, and battery spaces.
The biggest challenge in sustainability is scalability; some great innovations are unable to make a bigger impact. But challenges relating to the planet are complex and need time to be solved. So, there should be more patience and a belief that great innovative solutions will be built here, on Hyderabadi and Indian soil.
AEROSPACE
Hyderabad hosts a vibrant aerospace ecosystem, with the presence of big players creating, over time, a positive climate for startups — BluJ Aerospace is on a mission to cut transportation time by at least 3x, pioneering the development of hydrogen-electric propulsion systems for VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft.
This is for cargo operations, and they are also planning to design one for commercial purposes. Skyroot Aerospace was the first private Indian aerospace company to launch a suborbital spaceflight, Vikram-S, in 2022. This year, Skyroot will launch their next version called Vikram 1, which is an orbital flight.
This will travel at 28,000 kmph and at an altitude above 100 km. Contrast this with an airplane, which travels at 900 kmph and at an altitude of 10 km! Like defence, aerospace startups also have challenges related to funding and regulatory approvals. However, Hyderabad can consolidate itself further in the aerospace sector — it is just a matter of time.
EDTECH
In 2025, AI will be the disruptor in edtech, aiding in campus management, adaptive learning, student evaluation, mental health and counselling, and more. Often, it is difficult for the teacher to keep track of how much each student has grasped. But K12 is developing the Wiz Ed Programme, which uses adaptive learning to understand the needs of students and teachers, creating assignments based on how students learn.
AI becomes a co-pilot to the teacher! This year will also see some movement in gamification through AR and VR; for instance, you could have virtual chemistry labs. We are also working on the Invent Programme, where we use AI to help students start their own virtual enterprise from scratch and help them get it out into the real market.
After the well known fiascos in this sector, the biggest challenge would be gaining the trust of people to use edtech platforms. Other challenges include expensive marketing and making AI more efficient. In 2025, we need to think out of the box to revolutionise the edtech industry.
AGRITECH
In 2025, robotics will be widely deployed in farms. There is a growing shortage of workers — no one wants to work under the hot sun for a meagre daily wage. I come from a farming family and always wanted to serve my community. Fields here are small in size; the tractors and other equipment currently in the market are not suitable for them.
But this year, XMachines is going to launch electric, multipurpose, autonomous robots on wheels. Infused with a bit of AI, this technology will help farmers end to end — including seeding, weeding, spraying, data-capturing — and is suitable for most crop conditions in India.
All the farmer has to do is click a button! The main challenge for agritech startups is that technologies are not as cheap as I would like them to be for farmers. A subsidy from the state government for at least the initial 10,000 units would be helpful. Essentially, agritech in 2025 will see more focus on robotics, drones, and IoT.