US-India Based Drone Software Startup FlytBase has won the India-region round of the NTT Data Open Innovation Contest 9.0 (OiC). FlytBase will now represent India in the grand finale, hosted by Japanese major NTT Data in Tokyo, in March this year. FlytBase is building the world’s first Internet of Drones platform, and is working with various enterprise and SMB customers, across US and Europe, to help them automate and scale their commercial drone operations.
Other finalists from India were, Doxper, Altizon, NLP Bots, UniQreate, Asquared IoT, Circle of Life, KFX Labs, Nupay, Infilect and Manorama Infosolutions.
NTT Data holds the Open Innovation Contest (OiC) every year at an international level. Globally, 401 start-ups from 18 countries participated in OiC 9.0 this year. After a gruelling pitch session before the jury members, FlytBase was announced as the winner of India-region finals. – [Source]
So what’s in it for NTT Data? Mr. Kotaro Zamma, Head – Open Innovation and Business Incubation, NTT Data, says, “for us, these startups offer us their creative and innovative skills. We have large existing platforms, but these young companies can come up with newer and more efficient ways to use it. In the past four and a half years that we have organised OiCs, we have invested from tens of thousands of dollars to millions in the startups that we have come in contact with. These companies show a great deal of promise that can help us be more innovative and help them grow. It’s a win-win situation.”
Nitin Gupta, CEO, FlytBase, says “we are excited towin this contest and to get an opportunity to work closely with NTT Data. NTT Data has presence and customer relationships across the world. A large number of these customers would soon need to integrate automated drones in their business workflows. Collaboration between FlytBase and NTT Data will help us quickly address all such requirements.”
