SkyMap was launched in 2013 with a simple vision to make satellite imagery accessible to every user and not just a few organizations who were using it at that time. With this vision and dream, co-founders Kai Hwa and Abhay Swarup Mittal decided to dive headfirst into the chaos of a startup. In a brief interview, the co-founders give a sneak peek into their journey so far.
The Starting Point
In the initial years, both Abhay Mittal and Kai Hwa left their comfortable corporate cushions to chase what appeared to be a mere dream at that time. Their journey so far has been one crazy adventure as they have managed to accomplish the impossible and make satellite imagery a common application for everyone.
It took them 6 months to get the first PO which cost them around $600. As Kai Hwa recalls in an interview, ‘It was not a dream start, but we managed to get the ball rolling!’ Mittal adds, ‘Yes, it got rolling like a snowball. In 6 months, we got $600 and then by the end of the year, we had revenues close to a million dollars.’ Mittal said that although their initial start was slow, they scaled up very quickly.
Slow but Promising Growth
When they first started, they only sold satellite data because it was important for them to generate revenues. They used these funds to expand their team and build new technology for the solutions. In 2014, they expanded their offices to India and by 2018, they had spread their wings in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
The more people they added to their team, the more their growth accelerated. Not only were they growing in size, by this time, but they also started investing heavily to build solutions and applications. They knew what the industry needed and were aware that sooner or later someone else was going to build it up. So, they desired to be one of the first ones in this dimension.
The Turning Point
The turning point was when they started their Research and Development team in 2015 solely to develop machine learning and AI-based solutions. They knew that this was going to be the next big thing and was eager to be one of the first ones to build this technology. They formed a team of 15 engineers to build the application.
Kai Hwa added that the applications developed based on AI and ML were nothing short of magic. By implementing automation, they could monitor the health of crops across the entire country, count the number of buildings, and map every road in a couple of hours, something which could take months to do manually. The only limitation they faced was imagining the use of this technology.
From 2015 to 2018, they built these applications to focus on urban development, agriculture, and forestry use cases. This helped them to grow their business significantly and they were able to generate revenue of over 8 million USD in 2018 alone.
The New Breakthrough
Mittal said that in any industry constant innovation is the only way to continue growing. So, they needed to have an independent platform to collect data better than what the satellites could do. It was then that the idea of building and launching a satellite came to them. But, they were aware that this would require a lot of funding. After researching for months, they found something even better – Drones. So, in January 2018, they acquired a company and added drones to complement their imagery and solutions.
If you look back at their journey, they started as someone who sells data but then by 2019, they have managed to not only sell the data but also collect the data using their platform. By combining machine learning with this data, they feel that drone imagery is the next big revolution in this industry. SkyMap intends to leverage the existing solutions on AI and supercharge them with drone imagery.
Kai Hwa said that anyone can see the advantage of drone imagery as the difference is quite evident. One can scale up the resolution from 50cm to 5cm. Previously, one could look at roads and buildings, but now with drone imagery, one can look at rooftops and cars. This opens up a brand new chapter in imagery analytics.
The Road Ahead
The co-founders are now focusing on their new firm EOfactory. This can be called their Gen-next vertical which is built on data that can be accessed by even the non-programming experts. EOfactory.ai is a platform that helps professionals leverage the advantages of Earth Observation using Remote Sensing + Artificial Intelligence + GIS + Business Intelligence.
The new possibilities are endless. The technology was limited when they started initially. But today, they are able to connect multiple data sources and download them to shared workspaces where everyone can team up to get their desired goals. EOfactory.ai is a platform with the latest AI/ML algorithms that avoid unnecessary transfer of huge data volumes.
Users can also build their own AI models and run them through their EOfactory.ai platform. This helps users to focus only on their domain-related workflows and use automation wherever needed.
Final Thoughts
Mr. Mittal feels that this is a very important and pivotal point for the industry because now people have multiple sources of data. It could be satellites or drones, but one can have different cameras on the drones, so EOfactory is uniquely positioned to cater to this industry.
Currently, they are focusing on the agriculture, defence and forestry sectors, using drone and satellite data. The firm’s mission is to help create a more sustainable future through the use of Earth Observation intelligence. This feature can help experts focus on crop yield analysis, monitor tree health in forests, study greenhouse emissions, and enable better disaster management. They are at the helm of an exciting future wherein they pledge to help make the world a better place to live in.
As both the co-founders recall their journey so far, they feel that it has been one hell of a journey. They have had their ups and downs, but they have had fun along the way and have grown through the process. They feel this is just the beginning of a new adventure, especially with the new drone platform.
