STARTUP GOA

Yaguar Raptors is a team of Aeronautical engineering graduates who aim to accelerate the adoption of fuel-efficient transportation while also delivering sustainable solutions. The team consists of six bright minds, Advaith S Sudil from Kasaragod, Balachandran S Elayath a n d V i n a y a n V i k r a m a n f r o m Thiruvananthapuram, Mary Afeena K F from Kochi and Silpa S G from Kollam.

There is Nothing that Cannot be Done If You JUST DO IT

By IG Team

All of them after completing their Higher Secondary from the respective places came t o g e t h e r a t R a j a d h a n i Institute of Engineering and Technology in the year 2016 where they met their staff advisor and mentor Mr Nivin Francis. The initial days were quite normal as any student with full hopes and dreams along with great expectations in life which quietly started to turn into an academic session with a lot of theory classes. The department had a lab which we called the UAV lab where we could do some hands-on models. It mainly entertains anyone who is excited about Doing It Yourself (DIY). According Balachandran, Vinayan who already had hands-on skills started utilizing the lab way before the rest of them gathered along. “Once we came together, then the talks related to different techs a n d t h e i r i m p a c t g o t started.The influence and talks about startups and their ecosystem made us attracted towards it and we started taking part in programs, discussions and seminars related to it. We presented our first pitch deck presentation in an idea pitch competition h o s t e d b y t h e M B A department while we were in the third year where we brought out a concept in early natural disaster alert, bagging the second place in the competition,” he said. “Our journey to the project where we are right now, started in the cafeteria of our college which being in an uphill and had a wonderful breeze mostly around,” said Balachandran adding that with a cup of coffee in their hands, they discussed ways to utilize wind energy for the benefit of the college itself. “It led to discussions, planning, making a vertical windmill model and testing it in the college wind tunnel. It was at this point in time our mentor put forward the applications where we could incorporate the tech and then strikes the utilization of it in moving vehicles especially heavy vehicles. Our research on the subjects, analysis of the cad models and testing of the forces acting on our college bus made way for us to finalize a concept for increasing the efficiency of these vehicles. It was during the last days of our college when COVID hit and everything had to be shut down. But we continued to work on this and reached that point where we applied for the patent of our concept and started looking for challenges and funding to build the prototype. This is when we came across FIIRE and the NIDHI-EIR. Getting selected for this program was a great s t e p a h e a d i n o u r entrepreneurship journey. FIIRE has helped us with mentorship and connections and is still helping us be where our concept belongs.” Accordignt to Balachandran, the journey from the start itself was not easy. “Testing results that show errors from time to t i m e m a k i n g t h e p e r s o n a n n o y e d t o ‘ l a g ’ t h a t happened in building and testing of the scaled-down models all come under this. The level of frustration and questions we had among us about our concept going forward was a special season. One of the challenges we faced was in relation to the

complete filing of our patent where we had to test the model before filing and this was before we got into FIIRE. A r r a n g i n g w o r k s h o p s , borrowing money and making a model just hoping it to provide us with the result we wanted even though the guarantee of it was hanging. But we didn’t give up and the results came pleasing to our theoretical values,” he added. “Our interest in engineering and innovation grew along with time. Attending startup sessions, presenting our first pitch deck in front of a panel and taking part in science exhibitions attending Aero India 2019 in Bangalore, being delegates at the Bangalore Space Expo 2022 and the Defence Expo 2022 are all the key events we were able to be part of. T h e j o u r n e y w a s q u i t e different and e x c i t i n g f o r e a c h o f u s . Even with all t h e s e hardships, we have moved f o r w a r d t o m a k e w h a t w e t h o u g h t happened. It gave us a lot of insights not only look at the business field but also into each of our life. The main goal is to see efficient heavy vehicles running on the roads w i t h o u r p r o t o t y p e incorporated into them,” explained Balachandran. According to Balachandran, the energy solutions and sustainability is something that is very much in demand. “We plan to bring out solutions to the problems in the said field and bring out energy efficiency in whatever we can. I hope we could make it happen.”

“There is nothing that could stop any of you if you have the will to do it. So I would like to just say to the aspiring ones that even though the field isn’t a risk-free one, “Just do it”,” he concluded.