Update on Dec 11: A Zomato spokesperson told MediaNama that a pilot will be conducted in Delhi NCR and eventually scale to other cities where it carries out food delivery. The company did not specify a timeline for this. "We are currently working on devising hub-to-hub delivery networks and designing multi-rotor drones that can pick up a payload of under 5 kg. We will run thorough testing and procure all necessary licenses, as directed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, before we launch the service for our users. We will run a pilot in Delhi/NCR in the future and eventually scale it to other cities our food delivery business has a presence in.” said the statement. Earlier on Dec 5: Zomato has acquired a Lucknow-based startup which works only on drones, to work on delivery through hybrid multi-rotor drones. The company did not disclose the size of the deal. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said that the company is taking steps toward a future when a customer can expect drones to deliver food ordered online. Goyal said Zomato would work on setting up a drone delivery circuits, with TechEagle's design, to reduce last mile delivery leg. "We believe that robots powering the last mile delivery is an inevitable part of the future" Goyal said, "and hence is going to be a significant area of investment for us." MediaNama has reached out to Zomato for further details and will update this when we hear from them. TechEagle was founded in 2015…
