Small unmanned aerial vehicles pose a practical problem for operators of airports, industrial zones, and public areas due to their low cost, ease of operation, and difficulty in detection. Traditional perimeter security systems were not designed to solve this issue.
The operator needs to know about the presence of an object in the air, its direction of movement, and the need for a response, and this must happen within seconds. Reliably performing this task requires the ability to distinguish an aircraft from birds, kites, and background interference at a distance.
SkyAI Technologies was founded in Kanpur in December 2019 by Sergey Shukla and Shefali Bajpai. The company is part of the portfolio of the Startup Incubation and Innovation Center (SIIC) at IIT Kanpur, which describes its activities as developing anti-drone systems.
The company operates in two directions. The first is contract software: SkyAI offers custom development using artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer vision, data strategy, and engineering, as well as web applications and e-commerce platforms. The company serves industries such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, education, and energy and utilities.
The second direction is its proprietary product suite. The most advanced of these products is the drone detection system. According to information on the product page, this system uses deep learning analytics and computer vision to detect, classify, and track unauthorized drones, as well as monitor their trajectory and movements in real time.
The same page indicates that the system automatically assigns a threat category to the detected aircraft and activates alerts for unauthorized presence. SkyAI lists potential applications, including airport airspace security, defense and military surveillance, critical infrastructure protection, industrial zone monitoring, public event safety, as well as power plants and data centers.
SIIC describes the approach in more detail in its portfolio entry, noting that SkyAI creates object detection models that run on high-quality visual and infrared cameras, and the final end-to-end system is designed for detecting, locating, and subsequently neutralizing target drones. SkyAI claims that the underlying technology is patented on its home portal.
The rest of the catalog consists of more traditional products. The company lists an AI-powered enterprise resource planning system, chatbots, facial recognition with VIP alerts, and a personalized recommendation engine, most of which are presented as customizable deployments rather than off-the-shelf products.
SkyAI has not announced a round of equity financing. Its incubation at SIIC at IIT Kanpur is institutional support, not venture capital. Company data, based on regulatory documents, shows revenue of approximately 19.6 lakh rupees for the year ending March 2024, and a staff of 19 people as of May 2026.
Both directions utilize a common technical base. Computer vision models trained to analyze a client's production floor and models trained to isolate an aircraft from the sky use overlapping methods, and the company sells both products from one team.
SkyAI has not published a list of clients for the drone detection system or results from any field tests or evaluations. Client logos on its homepage relate to service businesses, and the company has not linked them to drone countermeasures work. The company continues to publish materials on corporate AI and generative AI implementation until December 2025 and has been hiring Python developers through its founder's LinkedIn page. It remains an open question whether the drone countermeasure product will transition from the incubator's portfolio to a deployed system.
To create an official land registry, the drone must meet high standards, which ordinary aerial cameras do not require. Since the data obtained serves as the basis for documents that will be relied upon, the aircraft itself, its sensors, and its behavior in case of failure must undergo certification before the data is considered valid.
India established such requirements through the Drone Rules 2021, which introduced a type-certification procedure for unmanned aerial vehicles. The certificate is issued to a specific model, not a company, and it is this certificate that opens the path to government procurement.
The company operating under the name CBAI Technologies was founded in Hyderabad in September 2018. E Sandeep Reddy is the founder and CEO, while Siraj B and Vidhyasagar B are listed as co-founders and product leads. The company went through incubation at iTIC, the technology incubator of IIT Hyderabad.
Initially, the company's business had a different focus. According to its participation description in the incubator, it involved a demand-driven scout drone that delivered vaccines, medicines, and blood to people who could not quickly reach a hospital; this idea was formed during the pandemic. However, the actual business now focuses on manufacturing aerial vehicles for mapping and surveying.
CrystalBall manufactures its own aerial vehicles rather than reselling others. Three models are featured in Indian commercial catalogs: Model V for mapping and surveying, Model T for surveillance, and Model M for agricultural spraying. The company offers a comprehensive solution by combining hardware with its own data processing, which it calls a full cycle—from drone to information acquisition.
Model V is the one that has certification. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a type certificate for CBAI Technologies in accordance with the Drone Rules 2021, which is valid until suspended or revoked. Distributors list the price for this aircraft at 4.4 lakh rupees, with a flight time of 40 minutes, a 26-megapixel camera, and two recovery parachutes.
These technical specifications are taken from reseller lists, not from the CrystalBall website, which does not provide readable product details. Sellers refer to Model V as the first certified mapping drone in India, a claim the company itself has not published in this form.
CrystalBall informed its incubator that it possesses permissions from the Airports Authority of India, DGCA, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and Ministry of Home Affairs for beyond visual line of sight flights, and is an approved drone manufacturer in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The company sells its products to the government through the Government e-Marketplace, where a rotary surveillance model is listed under its name. Company databases referencing documents show revenue of approximately 4.9 crore rupees for the year ending March 2025, and a staff of 22 people as of March 2026.
The company's focus narrowed in its early years. According to Tracxn data, CrystalBall is currently developing products for the mining and aggregate industries—a market where operators require regular measurements of site volumes and quarry progress, and where survey accuracy is purchased.
No funding rounds have been publicly announced. Company databases record one round from an institutional investor without specifying the amount, and one classifies it as a grant rather than equity capital. Information regarding the size or terms of the deal is not recorded.
Information about clients is also not public. CrystalBall has not disclosed the names of mining operators or government departments purchasing its aerial vehicles, nor has it disclosed contract values, deployment numbers, or fleet size.
The company positions itself as a global business headquartered in California with offices in India. Its Indian entity is registered in Tarnaka, Hyderabad, and all certification, manufacturing permits, and public product catalogs are on the Indian side of this arrangement.
